PPP cleanup attempt has familiar Eckoh

THE UK's phone-paid services regulator, Phonepay Plus (PPP), has attempted to rebuild the tarnished reputation of the phone quiz industry by publishing a list of approved suppliers.

It's a very commendable effort because, as the PPP itself observes, " Broadcasters often rely on their telecoms service provider to ensure services are compliant."

Hence Phonepay Plus has instituted a "prior permission regime for service providers to help make sure consumers receive a fair deal."

The upshot is that PPP today announced a list of 13 service providers who, by implication, the broadcast companies can trust.

Unfortunately, the list includes Eckoh UK which is widely recognised as the company which brought the whole TV scam business to the nation's attention.

Indeed, the original whistleblower is popularly acknowledged as an Eckoh employee who fled to Australia.

There's at least one company which hardly shares the PPP's high estimation of Eckoh. Step forward Channel Four which last month issued a High Court writ against the company.

Channel 4 is demanding unlimited damages including repayment of a £1million fine (levied by Ofcom), plus £300,000 to cover the cancellation of its Richard and Judy TV contest along with £52,000 in viewer refunds.

Doesn't exactly sound that Channel Four has much faith in Eckoh. Indeed, a report in the Daily Mail says that the writ claims Eckoh departed from the agreed rules of the contest by submitting the shortlist of finalists before phone lines had closed.

The INQ has long been highly critical of the PPP's attempts to penalise offenders and Tanla Mobile in particular.

Tanla appears to have been up to its usual tricks again and has just been fined a cursory £2,000. In the latest PPP adjudication, the usual buck-passing was taking place.

Tanla Mobile was named as the service provider and Visionsms as the inf ormation provider. A blog, on The Scream, points out that the same person Willaim McCafferty has set up the domain names for both Tanla and Visionsms.

No connection, then? Talking of connections, Tanla has previously been represented by one Neil Penny, former chairman of industry body, NOC UK, and close friend of Bonking Brit, Vince Acors. µ

See also
Industry closes ranks behind Bonking Brit

Premium rate texts prove unstoppable

L'Inq
Scream blog
Daily Mail