Multimedia Solutions, an MMS distributor, says it is making progress towards offering unsubscribing free to the consumer. This is in contrast to developments in the SMS industry, where it is said network operators are unable to distinguish between normal and opt-out messages.
Multimedia Solutions executive operational director Riaan Groenewald says this is not a problem the company has encountered. He says Vodacom is ready to reverse-bill the MMS originator, MTN is working on it and Cell C is in the process of responding. As soon as all three are ready, the service will launch.
In February, Groenewald said making unsubscribing to MMS advertising free to the consumer was a company priority. MMS advertising is otherwise free to the consumer. "The advertiser always pays for the MMS and not the consumer," says Groenewald. "This means the entire process, including the downloading of the MMS via GPRS, is free."
Asked why SMS advertisers could not follow suit, Groenewald said his company did not operate in that space, "so I can't give an answer there, but it should work exactly the same."
Meanwhile, the Wireless Applications Service Providers Association will next week publish an amended code of conduct to make it simpler and cheaper for consumers to opt out of subscriptions.
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