Ofcom Website | Notification of approval of an emergency code amendment to the ICSTIS Code of Practice (Tenth Edition)

Ofcom Website | Notification of approval of an emergency code amendment to the ICSTIS Code of Practice (Tenth Edition)

This is something that should have been done a long time ago, with hold payments to Premium Rate Services (PRS) from the telecoms operator for 30 days such that if the PRS service is doing something wrong they don't get paid.

This would stop a lot of scam operations and make it more difficult for PRS players to run dubious services. Withholding payments for 30 days is bad for cashflow, but will put off operators who "jump in then pull-out" very quickly, meanwhile leaving unhappy customers with big unexpected bills. There are quite a lot of telcos who will just pay-up on very short contracts.

Currently this is an Ofcom consultation, but there shouldn't be too many objections as it doesn't stop people making lots of money (premium lines can charge up to £5 per minute), it just stops them making money for 30 days which is enough time to catch unscrupulous ones.