The scheme is part of a new mobile content Code of Practice agreed among mobile phone operators in January, and implements part of a new set of texting guidelines issued by industry regulator ICSTIS (the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services) in July last year. This included a universal "stop" command for all services.
Under the new scheme, as from 1st August the providers of new and existing premium rate text and content services will have to cancel services offered to users if those users text the keyword "STOP" to them. Third party providers will have to comply with the scheme from 1st November.
"I am pleased that progress in protecting consumer choice, an issue of concern for everyone in the mobile telecoms industry, is being made through our organisation," said MDA's chairman Mike Short.