Messaging

The Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA) has announced acceptance of an enforceable undertaking [PDF] from Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) to "rein in wayward dealers telemarketing the products of Vodafone and 3 Mobile after receiving complaints about unsolicited calls from consumers on the Do Not Call Register". Those calls were in contravention of the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth).

The undertaking is a reminder that Vodafone, along with its peers, is still having trouble with the behaviour of its dealer network - evident in the data breach highlighted in past posts on this blog. ACMA Chair Chris Chapman stated that -

The cornerstone of the undertaking is that VHA will be auditing and reporting back to the ACMA on all its dealers’ telemarketing activities. If it finds any of its dealers potentially breaching the Do Not Call Register Act, it must report the dealer to the ACMA immediately

Given ACMA's past permissiveness Vodafone is presumably quivering in its Doc Martens.

Under the enforceable undertaking Vodafone has also committed to -

- require all its subsidiaries and dealers to keep comprehensive records of the telemarketing calls made
- implement robust procedures around recording VHA’s customers’ consent to be called by, or requests to opt out of receiving, telemarketing calls from VHA, its subsidiaries or any dealer.

ACMA has meanwhile announced acceptance of an enforceable undertaking, including correctional measures, from Nokia.

ACMA commenced an investigation into the Finnish company’s SMS marketing activity after complaints that customers could not work out how to unsubscribe from ‘tips’ sent by Nokia. In particular, the messages did not include details of how Nokia could be contacted, as required by the Spam Act 2003.

The investigation found that while a number of the ‘tips’ provided customers with factual information about their mobile phone handsets, some of them amounted to promotion of Nokia’s products and services, including mobile phone accessories, and that the messages therefore needed to include an unsubscribe facility.

‘SMS allows businesses to reach their customers no matter where they are or what they are doing,’ said ACMA Acting Chairman, Richard Bean. ‘But with that opportunity come responsibilities under the Spam Act, including the obligation to include an unsubscribe facility in marketing messages.’

Nokia has undertaken to -

- appoint an independent consultant to audit its systems and processes
- develop a plan to carry out the independent consultant’s recommendations
- train its employees engaged in SMS marketing about complying with the requirements of the Spam Act
- make a payment of $55,000.