premium rate pay per call telephone services » Information

New Mobile Payment Service For Premium Rate Phone Services

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:57:23 +0000

A new payment mechanism called PAYFORIT has been launched jointly by all UK Mobile Network Operators.

Payforit is a form of payment mechanism for WAP and web users.

It provides enhanced pricing transparency by enabling consumers, once they have selected their product or service of choice from a WAP or Web site, to then confirm their intention to purchase within a secure “checkout” area before a charge for that product or service is made to their mobile phone bill or prepaid balance.

The Trusted Mobile Payments Framework scheme rules („the Scheme Rules‟) formulated by the Mobile Network Operators and which govern the provision of Payforit services, require that consumers are informed of the price of their purchase plus other relevant terms and conditions during the secure “checkout” section of the transaction, prior to commitment, regardless of whether or not pricing information has been provided in marketing material. There is no requirement that consumers are informed of the price prior to “checkout”.

The Payforit payment service – the “checkout” part of the consumers‟ transaction – is operated by billing agents, such as Aggregators, on behalf of the UK Mobile Network Operators, who are known as Accredited Payment Intermediaries (APIs). It is the API that serves the relevant pricing and other information to the consumer, processes the consumers‟ positive opt-in to charging and marketing and returns the consumer to the information provider / merchant for delivery of the purchased product.

Pricing Information

As a best practice approach, we recommend that the price of each product/service offered on a WAP/Web site should be made clear to consumers prior to proceeding to the Payforit “checkout” area/screens.

Where all products/services on a single WAP/Web page/screen are the same price, the price need only be indicated once prominently on the page, and consumers informed that the price applies to all products on that page.

Where products/services on a single WAP/Web page/screen are different prices, then prices should be displayed in such a way as to make it clear what each individual product/service costs.

In the event that clear pricing information is not made available to consumers ahead of the “checkout” screen, then a clear route of exit must be available to the consumer if they choose not to proceed with the purchase upon presentation of the full charge for the service. This clear route of exit is provided within the Payforit payment screens.

Information providers should, as best practice, cater for users returning to their site having rejected the transaction at the point of pricing clarity with a mechanism to review and revisit the purchase, select a lower value product or make a single purchase if the site originally offered a subscription.

Pricing In Print Advertising/SMS Promotions

Where specific products/services are advertised in print, broadcast or promotional SMS, then, as a best practice, pricing should be made clear to the consumer as outlined in the rest of this Help Note. Where multiple products with different prices are advertised, then wording should indicate that prices vary from the lowest price to the highest (e.g. “prices vary from £x to £y”).

Where no specific products are advertised (i.e. the advert is merely to promote the WAP/Web site itself, as a place to browse without a commitment to purchase), then there is no requirement for pricing information in advertising.

As a baseline principle, PhonepayPlus expects that paragraphs 5.7.1, 5.7.2 and 5.7. 6 of the Code will be satisfied by compliance with the Scheme Rules.

Pricing Where WAP Websites Are Accessed Through A Search Engine

PhonepayPlus is aware that an increasing amount of consumers discover WAP/Web sites through the entry of keywords into search engines (“search marketing”). PhonepayPlus considers this to differ from more traditional forms of advertising such as print, broadcast or SMS messaging, in that by using “search” consumers have already registered an interest in the products or services on offer. Because of this, there is no requirement for pricing information on the results pages of search engines where WAP/Web sites using Payforit are advertised.

WAP/Web sites that offer a mixture of free and chargeable content should not lead consumers to believe that all content is free or of a lower cost than is otherwise the case.

Network Data Charging

Data Charging refers to the standard costs that may be charged by the network when a user downloads a product or browses a WAP/Web page. Such charges are not unique to Payforit, but may apply to products purchased using the Payforit payment system.

Subscribers therefore need to be reminded that they could face a data charge when using a Payforit service, regardless of whether they completed the purchase of the product or service.

To ensure consistency, the following wording should be used:

“operator data charges may apply”

Do I Need Permission For A Live Premium Rate Phone Service?

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:55:08 +0000

Under the latest rules from the UK regulator phonepayplus – there are some lives services which do not need prior permission. Paragraph 6.1.1 of the 11th Edition of the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice states that:

“No live services may be provided without prior permission from PhonepayPlus, save that PhonepayPlus may identify categories of live services which are exempt from the prior permission requirement. Such exemptions may be withdrawn or modified by PhonepayPlus at any time on reasonable notice and a list of exempt categories will be published by PhonepayPlus from time to time.”

The categories of live service listed below are exempt from the requirement for prior permission, unless they are charged at more than £1 per minute where the total cost of the call can exceed £30:

live customer support services
live directory enquiry (DQ) services
live data capture services – these are services that take callers’ details so that a service or product can be provided following the premium rate call
connection services for live conversation for UK end destinations only – these services include services enabling ‘cheap’ (typically 10ppm up to 60ppm) calls to hospitalised relatives and friends
live classified advertisement services – these services usually take the form of data capture services
live alarm services – these services usually involve calls being made to the police at a premium rate by alarm monitoring centres following receipt of notification that alarms have been activated
live betting tipster services
live advice services using non-087X numbers – these exclude ‘professional’ services such as those providing legal or medical advice, or services providing any type of counselling
live advice (including advice on consumer credit) and counselling services using 087X numbers
business conference services – these are services in which two or more persons
are enabled to simultaneously conduct a telephone conversation with each other where that conversation is chaired by a designated individual and is in furtherance of an existing or forthcoming business relationship.

Even if the live services that you wish to set up falls into the categories set out above, you must still inform PhonepayPlus in advance of the services you intend to operate. This can be done using the online registration forms available on the PhonepayPlus website. If you are unsure as to whether your service requires permission or not, you are strongly urged to contact the PhonepayPlus.

How To Make Money With Apple Iphones

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:12:05 +0000

Make Money With Apple Iphones

Calculating Your Premium Rate Revenue

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:01:06 +0000

It is important to understand the true revenue potential when running a Premium Rate telephone service. And just how much income can be generated even with a service attracting a limited number of callers. Although calls are charged to the public at between 10p and £1.50p per minute, the amount paid out by the big telephone networks (eg. British Telecom, Cable And Wireless) is normally about 75% of the gross income. Thus for calls costing £1.00 per minute, the service provider will receive 75 pence. The carrier retains the other 25p for delivering the call and collecting the money.

If you use a Service Bureau, as they supply the lines and equipment, they retain part of the revenue you earn from the carrier to cover their costs. The percentage of the income they retain varies between 10% and 25%, depending on the volume of calls you generate in any one month. In selecting a bureau be aware that some bureaus retain as much as 50% or more, and also levy additional charges for any services they provide.

THE CALCULATIONS
To calculate the income potential of your service you need to know:

The number of calls which your service can receive simultaneously.
The average length of your calls.
The revenue you receive per minute.

With this information, you can work out the revenue potential for your service.

[I] The number of calls you can receive
Most premium rate telephone computers will allow your message to be accessed by 30 or more callers at any one time. Should your service prove tremendously popular, it can be networked on several computers allowing hundreds or even thousands of callers to access your service at any one time.

[2] The length of your message
Assuming your message length is four minutes, and your average hold time is 3 minutes, then the total number of calls a 30 line computer could handle in one hour would be 600. This total is arrived at on the basis that there is capacity for 20 three minute calls per hour on each line. Multiply this figure by 30, being the number of lines into the computer, and you have a total of 600 calls per hour. With 24 hours in a day, the total number of calls the system could receive per day would be 14,400.

[3] Your income per minute
If we assume you are operating a recorded message service on a tariff of £1.00 per minute, then your share of the income, after deductions by the telephone networks (25p.) and the service bureau (10p.), would be £0.65p per minute.

THE POTENTIAL REVENUE
On the unrealistic assumption that you could persuade callers to occupy all 30 lines accessing your service throughout the day and night, and each call was for an average duration of 3 minutes, your income would be:

Income per call: 65p. x 3mins. = £1.95.
Income per hour per line: £1.95 x 20 calls per hour = £39.00
30 line income per hour: 30 lines x £39.00 = £1,170.00 per hour
Full day’s income: £1,170 x 24 hours = £28,080 daily
MONTHLY INCOME WOULD BE £28,080 x 30 days = £842,400.00

Of course, this is the maximum your service could generate. For most services, [though there are exceptions such as Adult and Chat lines], the call levels fall off dramatically after 10 p.m. and only pick up again after 11 a.m. In most cases your services will only be active for a small proportion of the day.

Nevertheless, you don’t need to achieve massive call volumes to earn a very healthy income from your service. Even if your service averaged only 6 calls an hour, you would still generate an income of over £7,000 a month.