Submitted by Mike Grenville on Thu, 08 Jul 2004 12:06

A scheme to make it easier for consumers to stop Premium Rate SMS services they no longer want is being phased in by content owners and operators in the UK.

The collaborative programme between the major players in mobile content delivery and the UK network operators to develop a consumer protection scheme and is being co-ordinated by The Mobile Data Association. It is part of the UK implementation of the Mobile Content Code announced on the 19^th January 2004.

The scheme enables subscribers to premium rate text services to stop information being sent to their mobile. The aim is to increase confidence in the capability of subscribers to control their spend by providing a common approach to ceasing any service to which they have previously signed up.

The matrix below illustrates the controls that will be provided for subscribers and the date at which these will be implemented by providers for the benefit of the consumer.

Providers of any new services will be required to comply with the code of conduct immediately for services on a shared short code and also existing services on a single code. Due to the complexity of change and implementation, existing services using shared short codes will not have the new requirements in place until the 1^st of November.

Short Code Service	Command	Resulting Action	Implementation date
For single service short codes	STOP	All services will be ceased	1st of August
New services on shared codes	STOP	This will stop the last service used by the subscriber as below
For existing multiple services on a single short code	STOP	The service last used by the subscriber will be ceased	1st of November
	A further STOP instruction	This will stop subsequent services on the short code
	STOP ALL	This will stop all services on the short code

Any third party offering new or existing services on a single code via premium text must have implemented the key word "STOP" by the 1st of August 2004 and for any service sharing a short code with other services, this capability will be implemented by the 1st of November 2004.

It is considered to be best practice for providers to alert subscribers of the additional services they utilise, but due to the complexity of implementation by many third parties with varying levels of capability, this will not be an immediate requirement. In the event of a provider being in receipt of a message from a subscriber that cannot be decoded, it is also considered best practise that the provider will send a helpful message to the subscriber.

Peter Norman , MDA Director and Commercial Director of Wireless Information Network Ltd commented 'It is extremely important for the long term health of the industry that providers of mobile services are seen as customer friendly. The MDA has again demonstrated a key role in bringing the stakeholders (regulators, operators and service providers) together, to deliver common sense solutions that make the most of the available technology’.

George Kidd of ICSTIS said 'ICSTIS has made clear that consumers should be able to cancel services as easily as they can join them – and with the same degree of certainty. Playing fair is key to trust and take-up. Our most recent guidance makes clear we want to see STOP as a universal command. It is really good to see content providers and carriers working together to establish this practice.'

Stephen Timms - Minister for Energy, E-Commerce and Postal Services said: ‘The DTI is pleased to see mobile organisations taking active steps to reduce commercial spam, and providing more consistent controls for consumers’.