Mobile Fusion fined S$10,000 by IDA over mobile user's subscription woes
Mobile Fusion failed to let customer unsubscribe from download service
Mobile content provider Mobile Fusion was fined $10,000 for not letting a customer unsubscribe from its games, ringtones and wallpaper download service.
Its claim that the problem was linked to number portability is believed to be the first in such disputes.
Portability allows one to switch networks and yet retain the mobile number.
A customer, who had apparently switched telcos, wanted to cancel the download subscription but failed four times to do so.
He complained last year to industry regulator Infocomms Development Authority (IDA). It found Mobile Fusion had contravened the Premium Rate Services Code which states that customers must be able to cancel services at all times.
It said recently that it rejected the firm's claim that number portability had caused the problem and imposed a $10,000 fine.
Said the IDA: 'Cross porting from a pre-paid to a post-paid mobile number across operators was not technically possible at the relevant time.'
Mobile Fusion said the customer was wrongly identified as a SingTel Mobile prepaid user though he had ported his number over to M1 as a post-paid customer when he switched telcos.
Mobile Fusion said its system was programmed under the three telcos' instructions not to entertain any request - be it for subscription or unsubscription - from pre-paid mobile numbers.
The service in question - Mobile Fun Club - offers games, ringtones and wallpaper for $3 a download. Subscribers who pay a weekly fee of $5 pay 50 cents per download. To unsubscribe, they have to send a text message 'MFC STOP'.
The complainant was not taken off the service despite sending the message four times. The firm explained that the system which handles unsubscription is separate from that which manages subscription.
Its subscription system was able to rightly identify the customer as an M1 post-paid mobile-phone user but the system handling unsubscription requests was not able to.
IDA has not made cross-porting between prepaid and postpaid plans mandatory for mobile operators due to the high cost of running the service and low demand for it.
A check with the three telcos confirms that cross-porting is not practised across telcos here. In other words, someone on a prepaid plan cannot retain the same number when he switches to a post-paid plan with another telco.
Early last year, Mobile Fusion was also fined $10,000 for misleading consumers with online and SMS advertisements promoting free game downloads.
In 2008, it was fined $5,000 for sending unsolicited advertising text messages. It charged some 18,280 mobile-phone users 88 cents for each message.
Last March, the IDA introduced stiffer penalties for companies that send unsolicited premium-rate text messages.
The penalties for first-time offenders was increased to up to $10,000, and up to $100,000 for the second offence.
Third-time offenders may have their licences suspended for at least six months. Further infringements could lead to longer suspensions and licence cancellation.
From February this year, consumers have also been able to bar unsolicited premium-rate text messages. The free opt-in service managed by the telcos is made possible by assigning prefix codes to these messages, which signal to users just what they are and make it easier for telcos to bar them.