Mobile premium service (MPS) providers will be obliged to ensure consumers have a more positive experience of their SMS services after revised codes are be introduced 1 June this year.
MPSs are information and entertainment text messages which are charged at a premium rate and typically sent from eight-digit numbers beginning with 191 to 199.
Since the Communications Alliance Mobile Premium Services Code was implemented in July 2009, complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman about the text messaging services have fallen 90 per cent from previous peak levels, according to a statement from the Communications Alliance.
“The new code requires carriage service providers to report quarterly to the ACMA [Australian Communications and Media Authority] on their compliance monitoring activities and imposes additional obligations to ensure greater clarity in advertising, including online ads,” John Stanton, Communications Alliance CEO, said in a statement.
The revisions are part of the code which are registered by the ACMA and were developed by a Communications Alliance working committee.
Other revisions include consolidating the opt-in procedure for non-mobile, WAP, IVR and mobile originating request to a single opt-in process; the addition of protections for the supply of reverse charge billing services; changing the language of the code to make it more easily understood; and the inclusion of certain terms in subscription messages, such as ‘subscribe/subscription’ and ‘helpline’.
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