28th October 2009

Ofcom Scope Review: AIME Responds

Ofcom today issued a statement following its recent consultation on the premium rate services industry. Specifically the scope review focuses on four key areas:

Defining what is a premium rate service
Pricing transparency for premium rate services
A registration scheme for service promoters
Complaint handling

AIME has, for many years now, stressed the need for engagement and co-operation between regulators and industry and has been instrumental in highlighting and driving these four issues forward by bringing together regulators, service promoters and operators. In particular AIME has been most vocal around the need for a registration scheme for operators of these services.

AIME Chairman Edward Boddington commented on the scope review: “ We are pleased to see Ofcom recognise the valuable work carried out by AIME in the planning of a registration scheme and we look forward to partnering with PhonepayPlus as we take the project forward. Our members will be particularly keen to ensure that we achieve registration requirements in a cost effective manner and within the wider vision of an integrated industry system driven by a central source on accurate information.”

The industry has achieved some notable success in areas such as transparency of tariffs to consumers and in focusing regulation at the consumer point of sale where it has most effect. In the dynamic world of premium telephone and micro payment based services this has particular relevance when new service developments and pioneering interactive applications often challenge both formal and self-regulatory frameworks.

The Premium rate industry, driven by AIME has lobbied hard for a registration scheme designed to raise the standards of premium rate services to consumers and introduce more practical control over market entry. There have been discussions at all levels of the industry ecosystem including between AIME and PhonepayPlus to progress with plans for a broader scheme which would offer a range of valuable intra industry services, of which registration is just one, driven by a common database of industry information. This initiative is only one part of the industry’s attempt to apply the right combination of formal and self regulation all with the objective of raising standards and seeing a return to market growth due to increased consumer confidence and better controls.

Currently the industry is worth just under £1bn for consumer paid services.

AIME’s members welcome the Ofcom recognition that a system of registration for service operatives will bring benefit to the industry and AIME will be meeting with PhonepayPlus in the coming weeks to to explore how the industry and regulators can best co-operate to ensure that the wider service and cost benefits of an industry scheme are implemented. AIME fully endorses Ofcom’s instruction “PhonepayPlus will work with the industry to ensure that their scheme takes account of any existing industry initiatives or databases where that would deliver efficiencies without compromising the integrity of the scheme.” Finally, it also supports a strengthening of the Number Checker facility.

AIME will be consulting with its membership on how it can best move forward and assist PhonepayPlus in achieving a value for money and cost effective solution by ensuring that industry can obtain the benefits of a registration scheme as part of an integrated system of valuable applications from one common source of accurate industry information.