Optus spams customers

Optus has been given a slap on the wrist by the media and communications regulator, which has ordered it to pay a AUS$110 000 (R734 000) fine for spamming its mobile phone customers, says The Sydney Morning Herald.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority issued two infringement notices against Optus after finding the telecoms carrier sent SMS texts to its customers promoting its mobile entertainment services without clearly identifying itself as the sender.

It was the second-highest penalty imposed under the six-year-old Spam Act, after a AUS$149 000 (R994 000) fine issued to a company called DC Marketing last year, for leaving "missed call" messages on mobile phones, prompting their owners to call back. The company would then bombard them with marketing information.

Comptel is partnering with Taiwan-based billing vendor Comware to deliver the complete charging solution for the postpaid and prepaid services the operator will offer over its WiMax network, reports IT News Italy.

The operator is one of six operators to have been granted a WiMax license in Taiwan, and hopes to be the first to launch commercial services in early 2009.

Competition for broadband services is already quite intense in Taiwan, with some mobile vendors having unveiled mobile broadband offerings. In order to gain a foothold, the WiMax operator needs an infrastructure that allows a fast time-to-market.

Mobile marketing firm Txtlocal has seen a 65% increase in the number of garages signing up for its online SMS text service during 2008, according to PR Web.

The majority of garages are using the Txtlocal SMS service to send out ministry of transport (MOT) reminders and sales promotions to existing customers and prospects. MOT shop owner Jim Belt claims to have had huge success with SMS, with a clear increase in MOT bookings directly after sending out a text.

The average response rate for a text marketing campaign is 12%, which is four times higher than other media such as direct mail and e-marketing. It also works out at a fraction of the cost of other more traditional advertising tactics.