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Cell Spam On the Rise

February 11, 2005

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The first international study of cell phone spam finds that more than 8 in 10 mobile phone users surveyed have received unsolicited messages and are more likely to change their service provider than their cell phone number to fight the problem.

The study, released by the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, predicts that spam will increasingly infect the wireless world.

With complaints about cell phone spam on the rise, both consumers and businesses see wireless operator self-regulation as the most important action against unsolicited mobile messages.

The study was intended to analyze differences in how phone companies and consumers see the spam problem. Surveyed were 1.659 consumers and 154 cell phone company employees worldwide.

Consumers worldwide indicated that mobile spam has a negative impact on the brand of the mobile network operator (MNO). Subscribers would rather change their MNO than apply for a new cell phone number.

Most complaints about mobile spam are directed toward the service provider. In addition, consumers perceive mobile marketing messages from mobile operators as mobile spam.

Both consumers and mobile operators expect mobile spam to become more of a problem in the future. 83 percent of telecommunications industry respondents perceive mobile spam to be a critical issue today or within the next 1-2 years.

Both consumers and corporations see MNO self-regulation as the most important action against spam. Customer-initiated actions are perceived to be less effective.

Cancellation of roaming agreements and customer complaint hotlines are the most frequently named actions that MNOs take today against spam.

MNOs are currently well aware of the effects of mobile spam on consumers. However, most MNOs are presently in a trial-and-error phase, applying reactive measures and testing various technological alternatives for avoiding spam.

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