IDA imposes fine on mTouche for spam SMS

The Singaporean telecoms regulator, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), has levied a USD93,000 fine on domestic mobile content provider mTouche for allowing one of its customers, China-based MyGlobalfun, to access its database to transmit almost 300,000 unsolicited and chargeable Chinese New Year SMS texts. The IDA says mTouche failed to gain consent for the messages and did not inform und users that there would be a charge before sending the spam SMS. In addition, the company contravened rules by disclosing their customers’ mobile phone details to a third party without prior consent. mTouche must pay the fine within 21 days or face possible legal action. It has also had its Services-Based Class Licence suspended for six months from 21 February.