Thursday, July 17, 2008

Europe - a crackdown on sales of ring-tones

EU to target rogue download firms

European ring-tone sales were valued at 691 million euros (£548m) in 2007

Hundreds of mobile phone download sites are expected to be investigated after an EU-wide sweep of services.

Some 80% of the 500 websites offering ringtones and phone wallpaper breached regulations, the European Commission is expected to reveal on Thursday.

Unclear pricing and misleading information about what was free led to "costly surprises" for consumers, commissioner Meglena Kuneva will say.

The UK regulator also wants people to receive fewer "junk" text messages.

In 2007, European ringtone sales stood at 691 million euros (£548m).

Some 495 million mobile phones are owned by Europeans.

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