Mobile premium services

A mobile premium service may be:

• A premium messaging service where you pay once. This can include entering a competition or vote, purchasing content such as ringtones, or accessing online games delivered using a phone number that starts with '19'.
• A premium direct billing service. This is similar to a premium messaging service, but is accessed over the internet and billed directly by your telco to your mobile account.
• A service offered by your telco to access content that is not offered by other network providers. This might include a subscription to sport or chat services.

Before you sign up, use Scamwatch to make sure it's not a scam.

Mobile premium services do not include services where you register directly with the service provider, such as:

• Netflix
• Spotify
• Google Play
• Apple Music.

The costs vary but if you use a mobile premium service, you could pay:

• a ‘sign-up’ cost for a subscription
• a fee for every message you receive or send
• a fee from your telco for the cost of downloading data to access the service.

Spend limits for mobile premium services will be capped by telcos at $20 per month for each post-paid service you have. 

You will be able to contact your telco to increase the cap. You will also be able to ask your telco to decrease the spend limit to help you avoid unwanted charges on your bill.

Customers accessing subscription services that have recurring costs will also need to complete a customer verification process with their telco prior to accessing subscription services.

Companies that supply content for mobile premium services must include the terms and conditions in their ads. These help you understand:

• how much the service costs
• how often you will receive the content on your mobile
• how to cancel the service
• who to contact for any problems or questions.

Ads for subscriptions or ongoing services must include the word ‘subscribe’ or 'subscription' that is visible.

When you sign up, the supplier will send you a message with the cost of the service and a helpline number. You can choose to:

• reply to their message to confirm you want the service
• ignore the message if you do not want the service.

The content supplier must send you an expenditure update after you have spent $10 on a single premium service in a month.

These are rules under the Mobile Premium Services Code that suppliers must follow.

You can cancel the service if you:

• receive a bill for a service you did not agree to
• choose to stop a subscription you no longer want.

A supplier of a subscription service must stop the service when you ask them to. Follow the instructions in the subscription service expenditure update or notification reminder on how to cancel. Often you need to text ‘STOP’ to the number in the message or on your bill.

After you send this message, the content supplier must:

• cancel the service and stop charging you
• reply within one business day to confirm they have cancelled the service.

If they do not stop, contact your telco and ask them to block mobile premium services. Your telco must not charge a fee for this. 

Your telco must help you if you complain about a mobile premium service.

They must tell you how to bar these services if you complain or ask about extra charges on your mobile bill. If you want to access mobile premium services that have been barred from your service, you can ask your telco at any time.

Marketing messages for services you haven’t requested, even if they are free, may be spam. You can complain to us about spam.

Companies that offer mobile premium services must follow the Mobile Premium Services Code.

To complain about a premium service, contact your telco or the content supplier. If you are not happy with their response, you can complain to the Telecommunications Ombudsman.

Report offensive content to the eSafety Commissioner.

Report ads you think are misleading to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

We are not able to help with individual complaints, but we monitor telcos and the companies that supply mobile premium services. We act if:

• customers complain that they are receiving spam
• someone breaks the Mobile Premium Services Code
• we see ongoing complaints with certain content suppliers