Issues with DCB in Australia, page-50

The Issues with DCB - Can MBE overcome the hurdle?

I refer to the recently added Australian Communications and Media Authority page entitled Unexpected mobile content charges which is available here - http://www.acma.gov.au/Citizen/Phones/Mobile/TCP-code/unexpected-mobile-content-charges

As discussed in this thread there was some looming issues that came to a pass for MBE. From the links I posted above, it was clear that MBE may have been obtaining revenue from people's genuine mistake or ignorance of what they were signing up for and how much money was being billed to their phones.

It seems clear to me that this issue needed to be addressed across the board - not just in Australia. MBE would be very silly not to implement the procedural changes to other markets in full knowledge that consumers will eventually cotton on to the DCB debacles that can occur on their phone bills.

Stories such as people who clicked one banner and got subscribed to long term monthly fees for games and services they didn't even use.

Some Telco's have responded by allowing consumers to turn off DCB, setting the default setting to disabled DCB or setting limits on DCB payments without authorisation from the consumer. There is also the implementation of the two-step authorisation process which MBE will have implemented or will be implementing for its services.

Here is an example of what two step authorisation looks like:



Here is another form of consumer authosiation before agreeing to pay by DCB:



The projected reduction in revenue and longer implementation time is, in my view, a symptom of consumer and phone provider reaction to the problems caused by unscrupulous DCB purchases. MBE will have to work hard to overcome the technical issues it faces to avoid implementation of specific regulation and to ensure that DCB remains a useful, revenue producing product.

My view is that the market exists for DCB and will continue to grow and that in a quarter or two MBE may be able to resume its revenue growth. I also think MBE could have explained the issues a lot better back in November so that the market understood what was going on. It is likely that trader behaviour and high volatility will remain in the meantime - which isn't necessarily a bad thing if you like volatility

TLDR: MBE facing a hurdle, can probably fix it, will take time though.