Ofcom today published proposals to extend the NTS retail uplift and PRS bad debt surcharge wholesale charge controls for Number Translation Services and Premium Rate Phone Services. Their websites writes…

1.1 NTS Retail Uplift and the associated PRS Bad Debt Surcharge are wholesale charge elements of BT’s charges for Number Translation Services (‘NTS’) call origination. NTS calls are calls to 08 numbers ^(-1-) and 09 numbers (09 numbers are also known as Premium Rate Services (‘PRS’)). These numbers provide individuals and organisations with a combination of call routing services and a mechanism to charge callers small sums. This allows them to provide a wide range of services to callers, including sales lines, customer service/enquiries, information and entertainment services.

1.2 We require BT to originate and to retail NTS calls on behalf of other communications providers (‘CPs’). Through the existing controls we allow BT, when it originates NTS calls, to retain an amount to cover its costs including an element of its own retailing costs. These specific retailing costs are referred to as the NTS Retail Uplift. For the higher priced PRS calls we allow BT to retain a percentage of revenue to recover the higher level of bad debt encountered on these calls via the PRS Bad Debt Surcharge.

1.3 In our recent market review consultation “Review of the Fixed Narrowband Services Wholesale Markets” published on 19 March 2009 ^(-2-) (the ’2009 Wholesale Market Review’), the key findings and proposals relevant to this consultation are that:

1. there is a market for wholesale call origination on a fixed narrowband network in the UK, excluding the Hull Area ^(-3-);
2. BT has Significant Market Power (‘SMP’) in this identified market ^(-4-);
3. BT should continue to be subject to the NTS remedy to address its SMP in this market. We therefore proposed to revoke the existing SMP services condition, SMP condition AA11(the ‘NTS Condition’) and re-apply it in its current form, which includes the maximum retention allowed by BT for the PRS Bad Debt Surcharge ^(-5-);
4. we also proposed that, it is necessary to have a charge control applied to the NTS Retail Uplift charges, with the specific details of the charge control to be addressed in a separate consultation to allow CPs providing NTS services to make effective use of the NTS call origination remedy BT is obliged to provide.

1.4 In this consultation therefore we consider the details of the NTS Retail Uplift charge control remedy flowing from the market analysis in the 2009 Wholesale Market Review. We are seeking views on the form and the level of these charge controls which we propose should take effect on 1 October 2009 and apply for a period of 4 years. We are also seeking views on the methodology used to calculate the charges. In addition we are seeking views on a proposed increase in the Premium Service Bad Debt Surcharge.

PHONEPAYPLUS MOBILE REVIEW - ONE YEAR ON

Premium Rate Regulator PhonepayPlus, the phone-paid services regulator, today announces that complaint figures concerning mobile services are down by half one year on from the introduction of new rules that came about following its 2008 Mobile Review. The new regulation was introduced in response to a worrying rise in consumer complaints regarding premium rate mobile services which, on average, account for some 90% of all calls to PhonepayPlus’ Contact Centre.

PhonepayPlus is releasing these figures at the industry launch of its Annual Report in London today, where it will also announce that its Chairman, Sir Alistair Graham, has accepted an invitation to stay in post for a further three years.

PhonepayPlus’ complaint figures show that:

• Total complaints regarding Premium Rate mobile services are down 57% from June 2008 compared to May 2009 (2,125 vs 919)
• Consumer complaints regarding mobile subscription services have almost halved since the introduction of the new rules (1,207 vs 651)
• Consumer complaints about unsolicited text messages are down by 85% from the first half of 2008/9 compared to the second half (1,538 vs 230)

Commenting, PhonepayPlus Chief Executive, Paul Whiteing, said: “These results show that we are heading in the right direction and sorting the good from the bad in mobile services. It is early days, and we are still analysing the various impacts on our complaint numbers, but these are an encouraging set of results that appear to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new rules, as supported by responsible providers in the sector. 

He continued: “However we are not complacent and remain vigilant for any new opportunistic activity that may result in consumer harm. This risk is especially acute since, with a country in the midst of recession, we expect the PRS industry to be attractive to unscrupulous operators looking for ways to make a fast profit. We remain committed to being proactive in preventing non-compliant services from making it to market.”

Mobile Review: the rules

PhonepayPlus’ Mobile Review set out new rules for the mobile phone-paid services sector. It stated that services could not be advertised as free unless they were free from any associated charges; set new rules around trading of third party marketing lists; and introduced a prior permissions scheme for Premium SMS subscription services costing upwards of £4.50 in any given week. The Review also reinforced PhonepayPlus’ zero tolerance of any failure of the ‘STOP’ command for opting out of receiving unwanted contact by text message.