I just found this out today.
Been a fairly long term holder of MBE, although recently sold out, to use the funds elsewhere for a while.
As an investment, I love MBE. Great company. Lots of growth. Bags of potential.
Now as a company, I'm a little ashamed they are as involved in premium sms such as this.
I will probably not go back in on MBE now for personal reasons. I'm not a fan of premium sms services.
I'd be interested to know what sort of percentage premium sms services contribute to MBE's bottom line.
Also there is quite a lot of misinformation in this thread regarding premium sms subscription.
It only needs one or two clicks on certain websites (I can't specifically comment on 8zmobile (MBE subsidiary)).
You don't even need to give the company your phone number, as it can be passed on through the http headers. Thanks Optus, and others!
http://www.zdnet.com/article/optus-hands-over-customers-numbers-to-websites/
You usually do not need to reply to the (free, thanks guys, notice how they use the word free in the sms a lot) sms from the premium sms provider to confirm the subscription. The sms simply informs you that you are subscribed, and usually tells you how to unsubscribe. You will still get billed for the initial subscription, no matter how fast you unsubscribe.
If you require further information on the technical aspects, and first person accounts of premium sms subscription experiences I suggest you head over to the whirlpool forums.
https://forums.whirlpool.net.au
Sentiment is buy from an investment perspective, and sell from an ethical perspective.
