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ANCOM InfoCentre - Few Telephony Users Are Aware of Premium Rate Services

06.05.2014

According to the data consolidated by the Romanian Authority for Mangement and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) based on the complaints received, few of the mobile telephony users know that calling or sending SMS to short numbers for the provision of content services usually involves additional costs.

The numbers in question internal national short numbers, of one of the following formats: 12vx(y), 13vx(y), 14vx(y), 15vx(y), 17vx(y), 18vx(y), 83vx(y), 84vx(y), 88vx, 96vx(y) – 99vx(y). Among these numbers, there are some for premium rate services, such as technical assistance, special images and ringtones, horoscope, games and contests or downloadable applications.

Many users do not realize that, by calling, sending an SMS or answering an SMS received from such a number, they subscribe to or request certain services which are generally provided at a premim rate. Prior to subscribing or to requesting such services, the users should access their telephony operator’s website to check the tariffs charged, as well as to find the way of obtaining further information on these services.

Most often, calls or SMS to internal national short numbers are charged a higher tariff than the one charged for a local or on-net call/SMS, and are not deductible from the minutes or SMS included in subscriptions/extra-options. The additional costs are specified in the subscribers’ mobile telephony bills or are directly deducted from the available credit of prepay card users.

Telephony operators use internal national short numbers with a view to offering specific network services (such as customer relations or cost control) or value-added services to their subscribers. Nevertheless, telephony operators may assign such numbers to providers of premium rate content services, while ensuring exclusively the technical facility of sending/receiving SMS or calls, as well as the billing of the content services.

Telephone operators have the obligation to publish, on their website, the numbers of this sort they use or they assigned to content providers, as well as the types of premium rate services provided by means of the respective numbers, the applicable tariffs, as well as the means by which the users may find more information or submit complaints on the services provided by means of these numbers. ANCOM may intervene to the extent the operators fail to publish such information on their website.

So far, in 2014, the Authority recevied 5 complaints on these issues, besides the 13 received in 2013, an increase compared to the previous years. By the end of 2014, a working group of representatives of the Authority and of the providers of public electronic communications networks are to elaborate a Code of Conduct detailing also the information under the telephony providers’ obligation to make available, regarding the applicable tariffs through internal national short numbers.

Further details on charging telephone services are available in the InfoCentre section on ANCOM’s website. This section also provides information on other number categories charged by a tariff higher than the one applicable to on-net or local calls/SMS, such as 09xx xxx xxx premium rate numbers, by means of which various content services are provided (e.g. entertainment, games, general information or telephone contests).

The InfoCentre section on ANCOM’s website contains useful information on the electronic communications (telephone, internet and television) services and postal services, aimed at helping the users in chosing and using these services. Such information refers to contract conclusion, charging manner, service quality, teminal unlocking or roaming. Moreover, the users can find here dedicated guidelines regarding, for example, fraud over the telephone or internet access services.