SMS spammers beware
The Association, which was launched in 2004 and has 175 participating WASPs, is a self-regulating body that works to ensure that certain standards are adhered to within the industry.
WASPA has estimated that the value of the sector by the end of 2007 will be around R2 billion. This means that there is a lot at stake which motivates WASPs to protect the standing of the industry.
According to its chairman, Leon Perlman, WASPs are keen to keep the industry reputable which made it easy to get buy-in from the various providers.
WASPA focuses on three areas namely: pricing, advertising and ethics. Their current big thrust is to tighten the advertising rules for WASPs.
Advertising standards
WASPAs’ advertising regulations encompass adverts appearing in TV, print, radio and on billboards.
For TV ads, WASPs are required to display the pricing in the top corner of the screen. WASPA has also stipulated the minimum display times for cost and the terms & conditions plus the minimum font size and type is also laid out in black and white.
Radio adverts must provide the cost of the service and the terms & conditions.
For print, WASPA has also laid out what the minimum size for the price and the terms & conditions must be as well as the position of the terms & conditions.
With billboards the percentage size of the price and the size and position of the terms & conditions are stipulated.
Consumer issues
According to Perlman WASPA generally receive complaints about SMS and email spamming, adult content (access by minors), competitions (want to know if prize is paid out), incorrect or unclear pricing on ads and subscription services.
WASPA strongly encourages that unsubscribing from a service be free but have set a maximum guideline of R1-00, although R0-50 is about the average price. Perlman said that it is unacceptable for a WASP to charge more than R1-00 to deactivate a service. He said that in order for a person to receive an SMS from a company they need to have a recent business relationship to receive correspondence from them.
Even if a person has a ‘recent business relationship’ with a company they must have the option to opt out.
WASPs must provide a reply path for users to terminate their subscription. The term that WASPs have agree on for terminating a subscription is ‘stop’. Perlman added that often people would reply f-off or p-off but simply typing ‘stop’ should do the trick.
He pointed out that in future WASPA is aiming to implement an opt-in regime where customers have to indicate that they would like to receive information in order for a company to send them an SMS.
SA currently has an opt-out strategy for SMSs.
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