Optus has written to mobile phone content companies warning them of content violations. They suddenly appear to be taking a very serious approach to compliance and are spending plenty of money to do it. In fact, they’ve established a whole new censorship body to enforce their position, via a 3rd party service and monitoring group, called MCN. MCN's role is to monitor all advertising including print, TV, web, mobile and to ensure that compliance is being upheld. They will not just stop at advertising either but will, in the very near future, take it further and actually test services line by line to ensure adherence to the latest code of conduct.

This is going to present a massive change in the industry as serious monetary penalties or fines will start to be handed out to non-conformers. September will see the introduction the new process with a soft launch, meaning that they are carrying out the process and alerting content providers to the infringements but not fining anyone this month. It’s a slight reprieve in order to give everyone a chance to understand the process and get things right before the fines begin.

Why? Who knows. But mostly this sort of thing happens because of pressure from the Minister's office, who in turn, has been pressured by conservative morals groups like the Australian Christian Lobby.

The Edict
Optus has found shortcodes in violation of Optus policies, the Mobile Premium Services Industry Code, or both. The attached Programme Infringement Notice or Notices contain details of the infringement or infringements in question as well as corrective actions Optus requires for content suppliers continued operations through its gateway.

The soft launch of the in-market monitoring programme has begun.
During September, Optus is allowing content providers the opportunity to become accustomed to the programme while correcting the noted infringements without penalty. However, beginning October 1, 2009, enforcement action will commence on audits that remain open due to content provider inaction.

The aggregator assumes responsibility for ensuring content suppliers prompt response to Programme Infringement Notices. Please confirm receipt of this information to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it within 24 hours.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Optus Compliance Team