July 2010 Round up
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Dear Members and Colleagues, In amongst the regulatory fervour the industry took a breather at the beginning of the month at AIME's VIP Golf Day. Early signs of rain gave way to sunshine and whilst the standard of golf may at times have been questionable and some of the handicaps debatable, the networking was first rate throughout as 46 players from 36 companies pitted their skills against Silvermere golf course in Surrey. The MobileSQUARED team emerged victorious and Mike Higham from Vodafone took the individual title. I'm also
delighted to extend a warm welcome to Network Provider Core
Telecom who joined the Association this month and to Payment
Facilitator ImpulsePay
who came on board as an Executive member. We look forward to
seeing both companies at upcoming AIME events and I'm sure that
ImpulsePay, who recently launched Payforit as a payment solution for
London's car parks, will be a particular asset to AIME's Payforit
initiative. Toby Padgham |
Chairman's Brief
Dear Members,
Whether you're reading this from the office, on the road between meetings, or through your mobile handset on a sandy beach somewhere, I hope that you are having a good summer.
Scrapping intrusive spend reminders and the £30 forced release, putting safeguards in place to prevent overly zealous regulation from limiting consumer choice and an easing of advertising copy requirements to include only key information, were amongst the messages conveyed to PhonepayPlus in July. This news may not come as a surprise in an AIME newsletter, until I tell you that they were some of the consumer responses to the recent Think Tank research survey of PRS. Proof perhaps that the customer does know best.
Pricing transparency and trust were, not surprisingly, highlighted as barriers to consumer interaction with PRS in the survey and it is clear that outside of the big brands trust does still remain an obstacle. Following AIME's lobbying, pricing transparency will now be explored in the Ofcom NTS review later this year, though solutions to the issue of consumer trust will only be achieved through working together as an industry and particularly through AIME's initiatives. Signing up to AIME's best practice guides, such as the recently released Best Practice Guide for Psychic Services, is just one way that members can get involved. Also getting involved in our working groups to address key issues is the other way that we will make things happen.
We are all facing tough economic times and having to get the balance right between investing in consumer services and keeping costs tight. It's not only revenues which are still falling for some, complaint levels are also and the question turns to the cost of regulation for our industry with some government departments facing cuts of 20%. We need to work closely with PhonepayPlus to ensure that the right balance is struck.
For those members that have yet to pick-up on it, 20% seems to be a common theme for this Government with a similar change to VAT coming into effect on the 4th January 2011. If members haven't yet completed the AIME survey on how you feel the industry should handle the increase then can I please encourage you to do so. The combination of a complex value chain, tight margins and the industry preference for round number pricing may pose some unique issues, which we need to identify and mitigate in good time.
Edward
Boddington
AIME
Chair
Showcase
AIME Board signals "Cautious Optimism" in Response
to PhonePayPlus 12th Code Consultation
As PhonePayPlus' (PP+) 12th Code consultation
period drew to a close at the end of July, the PRS and Telemedia industry
is now braced for the proposed changes under the new Code to become
implemented - probably around springtime 2011. According to PP+, the new
approach to regulation will be more 'fair and open' and the 12th Code has
been designed to work on the principles of shared responsibility, adoption
of a service provider registration scheme and offer a more proportionate
response to problems arising in the marketplace for
consumers.
Chief amongst AIME's concerns in its response to the 12th Code consultation is how the new changes will be managed by PP+ and how the changeover between the 11th and 12th Codes will be handled, however, as AIME Vice-Chairman, Jeremy Flynn says, there is a lot in the Code to be welcomed.
RepresentationMeetings & Events
AIME Initiative: Regulatory Best
Practice
AIME Initiative: Interactive Broadcast Forum
AIME Initiative: Interactive Technology for Charity
AIME Initiative: Fixed Line Forum
Industry Research Project
12th Code
Regulatory Update
Industry ConsultationsRegulator StatementsPhonepayPlus - Multi-Party Chat
Ofcom - Review of Consumer Complaints Process
ComReg - Scope of Premium Rate Services Regulation
AIME ResponsesPhonepayPlus - New PhonepayPlus Code of Practice
Ofcom - Approval of PhonepayPlus Code of Practice (12th edition)
Industry consultations & AIME
responses can be found on the AIME
website |
Information & Networking
- New members: Impulse Pay, Core Telecom
- AIME VIP Industry Golf Day, 7th July - a great day of golf and networking attended by 50 members & colleagues - thanks to all our sponsors. Teams and winners available on our website and photos from the day available here
- 12th Code Merchant Promoter events with OpenMarket (6th July), WIN (9th July) & MIT (22nd July)
- Attendance at ME meet up sponsored by Zed - 19th July
- Member emails included:
- Coping with Change - cultural change & move from 11th to 12th code
- Survey on implications of 2011 VAT increase
- AIME GM notes and highlights of last quarter
- Update on PTV regulation proposal - Ofcom approval
- Announcement of new AIME working group 'Fixed Line Forum'
- Consultation updates
including ComReg Scope of PRS regulation, PhonepayPlus 12th Code,
Multi-Party Chat
Member News
The
National Lottery Awards 2010
Core Telecom ( www.coretelecom.co.uk )
has been chosen from a host of suppliers to support the telephony voting
requirements of The National Lottery Awards 2010.
"We are delighted
to be working with such a highly regarded and benevolent brand. It is a
commendation of the unique solutions Core Telecom offer and the specialist
skills our employees provide," expressed Chief Executive Mahmood
Mazhar.
Netsize, the leading mobile commerce and
communications enabler, today announced the key to unlocking micropayments
online: Netsize mPayment with Payforit version 3.
For the first
time UK consumers will have a simple, straightforward and trustworthy
route to buy digital as well as physical goods and services. Consumers can
make transactions online and via WAP using any mobile phone. Merchants
benefit via a simplified route to market that accelerates
ARPU.
London, Thursday 24th June 2010: Premium mobile advertising agency 4th Screen Advertising has secured the exclusive mobile advertising contract with Global Radio, the UK's largest commercial radio group.
- Oxygen8 pledges to raise £40,000 and send up to 15 staff
to Durban, South Africa, in September to build new house for HIV/AIDS
orphans-
Date: Oxygen8 Communications, the micro-billing,
communications and mobile enablement specialist, is supporting the
'Project O' charity in South Africa by pledging to raise £40,000 this year
and send up to 15 staff from its international offices to Durban during
September to build a new house for HIV/AIDS
orphans.
23 July 2010 - Following on from the unique MultiWay® feature introduced in Treasures of TroyT, Kerching Casino brings you the fantastic new slot game White OrchidT.
ImpulsePay can help charities to set up simple,
one-click, mobile donations
London, July 27th, 2010: Payforit 3 is
the latest update to Payforit's mobile purchasing service which, supported
by all the UK mobile operators, allows any UK handset to make a mobile
purchase - or in this case a donation. Using Payforit 3 the cost of the
transaction is billed directly to the user's mobile bill or reduced from
the existing credit. For charities this means no need for dedicated
shortcodes or shared keyword costs and if they set up with ImpulsePay
www.impulsepay.com there are no monthly or set up fees and sign
up can be done instantly, with just one line of code.
Dates for your diary!18th August - AIME working group meeting - Fixed Line
Forum - contact zoe@aimelink.org
for more details - members only If you would like further information on any of AIME's activities, initiatives or benefits of membership, please contact me at zoe@aimelink.org Kind Regards, Zoe Patterson |
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