Telstra Comes To Party Against Unwanted SMS’s

Telstra finally decides to do something about unfettering users from unsolicited SMS subscriptions

Most people have either been the victim of – or at least know of somebody who has – unscrupulous SMS third party vendors who try and surreptitiously get people to subscribe to games or services that not only do they not want, but didnt’ even know they were getting.
Telstra has decided to help out with a new barring option to Premium SMS services, which will be introduced at the end of June.

l Other measures being introduced include:
Amending the company’s own Premium SMS Service Provider Conduct Policy to extend the double opt-in arrangement to all subscription services regardless of the method of subscription.
A process to terminate providers that have had continued high and unacceptable complaint levels associated with their services.
The development of an incentive arrangement which rewards service providers that maintain a good customer service record.

Telstra says it has already:
Introduced a default monthly spend limit on Premium SMS to help customers manage their spend on Premium SMS.
Issued our own Service Provider Conduct Policy which already includes a double opt-in requirement for Web and IVR advertised subscription services.
Introduced a monitoring program where advertised Premium SMS services are “mystery shopped” and tested to check compliance against Telstra’s Conduct Policy.
Suspended a number of premium services as a result of unacceptably high escalated complaint levels.