The Austrian Telecom Regulator, rtr, is taking and giving at the same time. On one hand the regulation regarding Premium SMS and Tele-voting got stricter, on the other hand the advertising of premium rates will be easier in the future.

In detail, rtr ruled that all Premium SMS subscription services have to end the subscription after the user sent the “STOPP” word. That spelling is correct, by the way. Also the user has to confirm the subscription after each 10 Euro threshold. SMS chat services are to be billed solely for the messages sent by the user. All call center messages have to be free of charge.

Tele-voting lines have to inform the user in clear language that the call was billed. Many TV call-in shows just told the caller “no luck this time” or “you got the wrong line” and caller expected these calls to be free (they said). So now you have to announce “no luck this time, but thanks for the cash”

Since dialers are opt-in in Austria, most dialer application changed to international numbers. rtr is aware of this problem, but was not really able to do something against it. Now the national carriers have to inform clients about the dangers of “international dialers” and have to observe typical call patterns known for dialers. They also have to close access to numbers used for these devilish programs.

On the other hand, rtr allows the price announcement in advertising (offline or online) to be in Eurocents instead of Euro (i.e. 50 ct instead of 0,70 €) for tariffs below 1 €. For tariffs below 0,20 € in the numbering range 810 and 820 (shared cost) no announcement is necessary. In radio advertising the pricing information is not necessary for tariffs below or equal to 0,70 €

Here is the original text in German language.

Posted on October 19th, 2006 by lbraum
Filed under: Austria