UK: Premium-rate phone operators will soon need a lottery licence

from Out-Law:
Premium phone line operators will need lottery licences to operate from September, according to the Gambling Commission. The changes will affect many of the competitions that have attracted criticism in recent weeks.
New gambling legislation passed in 2005 but due to take effect in September of this year will clear up a longstanding ambiguity about […]

Irish Premium Rate Complaints rise by 175% in 2006

RegTel, the Irish regulator of Premium Rate Services stated in a message to all Premium Rate Service providers that there had been an “unprecedented increase” in the number of complaints it received from consumers, with the majority focused on subscription-type services.
Overall, 13,321 complaints were made to RegTel last year, compared to just 5,534 in 2005. […]

UK: Now the Fallout of the Call-In TV Scandal hits Service Provider Eckoh

(From “The Times”) The chief executive of Channel 4 said yesterday that it would sack the premium-rate phone supplier Eckoh, after software problems involving the company forced the broadcaster to axe phone-in competitions due to run during the Cheltenham Festival.
Andy Duncan admitted that Channel 4 had uncovered yet another problem with a premium-rate phone-in on […]

France - ARCEP thinks about introducing a Regulating Body

From 26 November 2006 to 12 January 2007, ARCEP conducted an extensive public consultation on the functioning of the Value Added Services (VAS) sector. It received close to 40 contributions from operators (originating operators, collection operators and service providers) as well as content editors, professional associations, […]

ICSTIS Announces Measures to Restore Public Trust into Call-In TV Shows

ICSTIS, the premium rate services regulator, has announced a number of immediate and future actions that will be taken to restore public trust in the premium rate participation TV sector.
The need for change has been agreed following a meeting with leading broadcasters, programme makers and premium rate service providers. The urgent meeting was convened by […]

Swiss New Law on Telecommunications enters into force on 1 April

At its meeting today the Federal Council decided to bring the revised Law on Telecommunications and the decrees based on it into force on 1 April 2007. The revision primarily concerns unbundling of the last mile and consumer protection.
The new legal basis strengthens consumer protection in the area of value-added services (telephone numbers or […]

ICSTIS announced new definition of sexual entertainment by OFCOM

Ofcom has today issued a Statement in which it has extended the definition of a
Controlled Premium Rate Service (“CPRS”) to cover all Sexual Entertainment Services regardless of price. Such services are therefore, with immediate effect, regulated by ICSTIS. Many, but not all, of these services currently operate using 087 numbers.
ICSTIS will not enforce this amendment […]

ITV suspends premium rate services

ITV is suspending all premium rate interactive services across its channels. The broadcaster has also announced an independent review of premium rate services across its interactive services. The review will cover all premium rate landline, mobile and red button services.
This is a direct fallout of the “Saturday Kitchen” Story. There viewers urged to call a […]

kwak Telecom now offering Greek Premium Rate Numbers

Greece is a member of the European Union since 1981 and a member of the Monetary Union since 2001. It has a population of over 11.000.000 people, of which 2/3 live in cities. In Greece there are 6.3 million landline users and 12,5 million mobiles. The mobile market penetration with 123% is the […]

German Premium Rate Number Tariff Limit raised to 3.00 Euro/Minute

A change in the German “Telekommunikationsgesetz” (Telecommunication Law) allows service providers to charge up to three Euro per minute for 0900 premium rate calls. The novellation increases comsumer protection by

a cost-free tariff announcement at the start of each call (billable time starts 3 seconds after end of message)
premium-rate calls are now limited to a sum […]