Islamabad: The National Assembly was informed on Monday that Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) allow only those 3rd party Value Added Service (VAS) providers to offer subscription through mobile billing who have commercial agreements with CMOs for subscription and charging through mobile balance.
In written response by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication stated that if a consumer intends to activate any VAS through respective webpage, a confirmation message pop-up on mobile screen. Upon pressing ‘yes’ or ‘y’ (as the case may be) an OTP is sent to consumer. When consumer enters the received OTPon webpage, VAS is activated. Furthermore, all subscribed VAS are visible on respective mobile apps of CMOs for ready reference of consumers.
PTA has directed all CMOs to activate any kind of VAS only after seeking prior consent of consumers through OTP, USSD, SMS, App etc. All CMOs have also been directed by PTA to inform about activation and de-activation of such subscription by sending confirmation SMS without delay to consumers.
These directions have been issued to protect consumers including low-income individuals and avoid bill-shock in line with international best practices.
