Chariot fined $10,000 for failing to lodge eligible revenue return
OK, that’s a March 2006 headline, but it makes the point: failing to comply with the approaching 28 September deadline for carriers to lodge their annual Eligible Revenue Return is not a good idea.
The ERR is used to determine each carrier’s proportionate liability to contribute to funding the Universal Service Obligation, and one late return holds up the whole exercise.
As ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman said at the time:
‘This court decision highlights that ACMA is comfortable with taking action in appropriate circumstances against carriers that fail to meet their regulatory responsibilities.’
CSP Central has previously backgrounded the return and its requirements.
Web Ace aced by ACMA
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has flexed its Telecommunications Act muscles against ISP Web Ace, directing it to comply with the billing rules under the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code.
Web Ace is the trading name of Jason Kenneth McKay of Perth, WA. ACMA says that McKay has been extracting payments from customer credit cards without authority, and failing to refund.
The issue was first publicised on Whirlpool, the Australian internet users’ town square. In May 2008, Whirlpool user ‘yabbitboy’ posted:
I am signed up to webace’s email only plan ( $60 a year ), I get unauthorized billings by webace 4 times already, 4*$60. I had contacted them by email – never got replied and also tried contacting them by phone – I do speak to them by person to person but they said they are ‘busy’ and say they will call me back which is *******.
ACMA has now used its power to direct McKay not to extract payments without issuing a bill and in accordance with customer authorisation.
SMS spammers suffer ‘no show’ judgment
We reported in January 2009 that ACMA had launched legal action against a bunch of companies and individuals alleged to be involved in an illegal SMS spam racket.
Five of the respondents to the Federal Court action have failed to take necessary procedural steps, and the Court has agreed to ACMA’s application for default judgments. After hearing evidence about the defaults and the original conduct, the Court has ordered:
- that parties including Mobilegate Ltd, Winning Bid Pty Ltd, Simon Anthony Owen, Tarek Andreas Salcedo and Glenn Christopher Maughan have breached the Spam Act and / or Trade Practices Act in various ways;
- that they be restrained from certain conduct, of the kind involved in the scam, for seven years; and
- the matter be re-listed for directions in relation to any penalty hearing as the above respondents on 18 September 2009.
The case against other respondents, who have defended the case, continues.
Telstra fined for Do Not Call breaches
Telstra has paid a $101,200 infringement notice for telemarketing to numbers on the Do Not Call Register more than 30 days after they were registered.
ACMA announced its biggest scalp yet under the new law, following an investigation into calls made by an offshore call centre on behalf of Telstra. Inexplicably, Telstra allowed illegal calls to continue after ACMA had raised concerns based on several complaints.
“The investigation found that inadequate compliance systems, procedures and supervision had contributed to calls being made to numbers on the Register where the consumers were not existing Telstra customers.”
Telstra may be the biggest Do Not Call catch so far for ACMA, but it’s not the record penalty payer. That ‘honour’ belongs to Dodo at $147,400.
ACMA confirms 2009/10 Do Not Call washing fees
ACMA has announced that excess usage fees for list washing will be abandoned from 1 July 2009. Instead a so-called ‘annual subscription’ will in fact be a block prepurchase of washing credits that will normally expire if not used within 12 months.
If a telemarketer’s remaining ’annual’ subscription credits aren’t sufficient to pay for washing a submitted list in less than 12 months, they will have to buy a new ‘annual’ subscription before that list can be washed. In that case, any unused credits from the first subscription will be rolled over into the second one.
ACMA has made the change because 90% of list washing ‘access seekers’ are already estimating their requirements pretty accurately. If they keep doing that, the new block prepayments will usually cover a year’s use. If not, access seekers may find their annual subscriptions aren’t actually annual. Wonder what ACCC would make of a CSP that advertised an ‘annual’ fee that may or may not cover a year 
Keep reading for the full table of rates, showing the comparison with 2008/09.
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ACMA launches premium SMS offensive
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has announced a package of measures designed to smash rogue premium SMS operators.
The industry was already expecting the Mobile Premium Services Code, which was finalised a few months ago and will take effect on 1 July 2009.
But in a move ACMA hopes will be decisive, it has revealed three other weapons in the battle against shonky premium SMS outfits.
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Germans take down ACMA black list leak site
It has been reported that German domain name regulator, DENIC, has taken down the popular website www.wikileaks.de shortly after it published ACMA’s internet filtering trial black list.
Over recent weeks, many reports have emerged of the ACMA internet filtering trial black list having been published on different websites, potentially compromising the Government’s current internet filtering trials. One such website was www.Wikileaks.de.
ACMA seeks input on DNCR Best Practice Guidelines
ACMA is seeking public comment on proposed DNCR Act Best Practice Guidelines for complying with the Do Not Call Register Act 2006.
We’ve previously poked ACMA’s eye about keeping its thoughts to itself too much, so it’s great to see a move towards a thorough, straight-talking booklet that offers detailed guidance on the regulator’s experience and how it sees things.
“The draft guidelines have been drawn from consultation with telemarketers who have implemented thorough and effective compliance systems, as well as experience gained through ACMA investigations into non-compliance. Put simply, ACMA has looked to industry for what does work, and has observed through its investigations what doesn’t work.”
We’ll certainly be reviewing the draft carefully and making a few suggestions.
Comments and queries can be directed to robert(dot)urquhart(at)acma(dot)gov(dot)au. Close date for comments is Friday 13 February 2009.
Test yourself: How far back can a telco or ISP back bill ?
How far back can a CSP go in billing charges after the billing period in which they were incurred ?
Clue … there’s a Communications Alliance Code that’s relevant, and a TIO policy.
Telcos are main offenders under Do Not Call law
ACMA today revealed that more than half of all complaints about illegal telemarketing calls relate to phone plan offers.
‘ACMA has embarked on a campaign to improve telecommunications compliance that includes formal investigations, warnings, detailed letters putting individual providers ‘on notice,’ and an industry newsletter specific to the telco industry which provides practical advice about adhering to compliance requirements.’
A growing list of Aussie telcos has already been on the receiving end of ACMA’s attention.
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