Source: CCTV.com

03-19-2008 11:15

A media report last weekend found that a subsidiary of Focus Media was sending spam to people's cell phones. China Mobile has decided to shut down the company's message service ports. Industry experts are calling for improved management of these types of ads.

China Mobile has decided to shut down Focus Wireless's message service ports.

Chinese media reported that Focus Wireless, a subsidiary of Focus Media, had established a huge customer database by purchasing the customer information of 200 million cell phone accounts from major messaging service companies in China. That allowed the company to claim to offer comprehensive advertising services to highly-targeted users.

The ads were sent through the message service ports of major mobile phone operators, including China Mobile and China Unicom. In response, China Mobile has decided to close those message service ports.

Xu Da, Marketing GM of China Mobile said "As a mobile phone operator, China Mobile has a responsibility to deal with these spam messages. The company has severely breached its contract with us, so we have decided to close all their message service ports."

Wang Tao, Lawyer of Genland Law Firm said "Operators should bear their relevant responsibility. One is joint liability for the infringement of users' rights, the other is the breach of contract with their mobile phone subscribers. Mobile phone operators should bear a legal obligation to provide a comparatively smooth communication channel for users."

Mobile phone users now have 3 channels to file complaints regarding spam messages. They can call their mobile operators' service hotlines. They can call the information ministry's hotline, 010-12300. Or they can call the Internet Society of China, which can be found at 010-12321.

China Mobile says it will respond to all complaints within 48 hours of the call.

China's mobile subscriber base has exceeded 500 million. Experts say spam messages still lack good management, and the relevant departments should work on standardizing the market as soon as possible.

Editor:Xiong Qu