The Competition Appeal Tribunal passed the complaint to the Competition Commission after 3 and BT complained to them.

The Tribunal now has to decide whether to accept the decision. If it does Ofcom will have to redo its business models on the cost of running a 3G network including the cost of the license fee.

As the complaint took charges into account from 2007, some operators may be due refunds.

And another. And another. And woosh. Across what appeared to be a few minutes, she was text-bombed.

Whether by mistake or by design, she ended up with a heck of a lot of premium rate texts being delivered to her handset. The reader describes it thus:

The 72 unsolicited reverse SMS texts were sent at two second intervals, my daughter was on a trip in her car, when her phone ‘in box’ filled up, she deleted the total content, when it filled up again in the blink of an eye, she again deleted the whole lot, and to this day, we have no idea what the content actually contained.

WIN (as the aggregator in question providing the connectivity for another company who originated the texts) refunded this amount after the reader complained.

All is well, yes?

Well not quite. The reader is — rightly — appalled by the matter. He, I suspect, is thinking that the mobile industry is a normal industry. It’s regulated after all. Right? So this sort of thing shouldn’t keep happening. Right?

Whilst there’s no current complaint, the reader’s astonishment, shock and bewilderment in dealing with both WIN, Ofcom and PhonePayPlus was one I wanted to highlight.

I don’t think he understands how this sort of thing was allowed to go on. And, in many cases… still does continue, only in different ways.

It’s a sad state of affairs when my response to the reader is thus: I’m pleased you got your money back. Let’s move on.

What else can you say?

It’s a seedy industry. It’s roots are seedy. Only a percentage play fair.

It’s a lot better than it used to be, here in the UK.

But there’s still a huge issue between the aggregator supplying the connectivity — and the client companies they work with abusing the aggregator’s connections, often resulting in fines.

What can you do?

Be responsible.

Yes and no. The aggregator viewpoint is simple: They can’t monitor every message. They can’t check every single new service launched. They don’t have the resources. Or they choose not to have the resources.

It’s cheaper to pay the fines, refund the complaints and skim where possible.

It’s all changing though — as premium text message begins to wane in popularity, we’ll begin to free ourselves collectively from the menace that is the premium rate scammers.

Once you get to the likes of the Apple iTunes App Store, the opportunity for scamming seriously diminishes.

Ah dear.

Here’s one of the reasons behind the drop, according to Ofcom:

Bargain hunting : An increasing proportion of us are switching between providers in order to get the best deal. By March 2008, 27 per cent of us had switched our internet provider at least once; 37 per cent had switched landline provider and 41 per cent had changed mobile provider.

Does this mean mobile operators will find new ways of feeling loved so we don’t switch provider, offering us tasty new services and great discounts, or just lock us into longer and longer contracts? I’ll let you take a guess…

Ofcom did say:

“The current arrangements block access to 18-rated material to non-age-verified customers. With increasing numbers of younger children having access to mobiles capable of accessing AV content, mobile operators may need to consider if a binary system at 18 provides sufficient protection from inappropriate content for younger users, or whether a more granular system should be considered.”

The Guardian reckons that’s a sign that we’re going to get cinema style age ratings on mobile content. Not a bad idea, I reckon, assuming operators can put up with the hassle of verifying young customers’ ages – and if there’s a profit in it, I expect they can – I can really see it working.

The story has a happy ending though – Ofcom has confirmed O2 has finally hit the 80 percent target, albeit several months behind its rivals and after threats by the watchdog to cut its licence short unless it fulfilled its 3G pledge.

There’s some suggestions that this is secretly a signal a 3G iPhone is on the way. While it probably is, I don’t think this network build out is anything to do with it: after all, O2 launched the first 2G iPhone, and it didn’t have much of an EDGE network to start with either.

The regulator has announced that it will permit mobiles in aircraft as long as the airline has the backing of either the European Aviation Safety Agency or the Civil Aviation Authority. Ofcom gives the proviso that phones must still be switched off on take off and landing and connectivity can only be switched on once the plane reached 3,000 metres.

Initially, airlines will be able to offer GSM and “if the service is successful it could be extended to 3G and other services in future”, Ofcom says. Is this the death of work downtime on planes as we know it? And how long before there’s an air-rage incident because someone couldn’t keep their voice down in-flight?

The appeals come after Ofcom changed the controls on mobile termination rates early last year, which it said at the time would save operators £400 to £500 million a year and that saving should be passed on to retail customers.

According to The Guardian, the operators are now hoping to get termination rates down to nothing in order to be able to offer all-you-can-eat call plans of the type that have become common in the US. If that’s the case, great. If it saves the operators money, that’s great too – as long as the operators remember to send a bit of those savings our way, as Ofcom asked for.

The regulator is particularly riled about two practices: where customers are given false or inaccurate information when they want to buy a mobile contract; and some “cash back” promotions offered by sales agents where they fail to reimburse the consumer.

If the rules are adopted, it will mean mobile operators will be bound:
• not to engage in dishonest, misleading or deceptive conduct and to ensure that those selling their products and services similarly do not mis-sell;
• to make sure the customer intends and is authorised to enter into a contract;
• to make sure consumers get the information they need at the point of sale;
• to ensure that the terms and conditions of cash back deals offered by their retailers are fair; and
• to carry out due diligence and a number of checks in respect of their retailers.

Anything that adds to consumer protection and confidence in the mobile industry can only be a good thing. Applause for Ofcom.

The so-called L-Band spectrum, 1452 – 1492 MHz, can be used for “mobile multimedia services including mobile TV which could be deployed using a variety of technologies” Ofcom said. The spectrum will be sold off on a technology neutral basis and licences will be tradeable.

With almost all of the operators piloting some form of broadcast TV, I wonder if this release of spectrum will the auction winner move from test phase to a full-on commercial service launch.