Operators vow tech upgrade to end theft

Progressing at what has been called a “snail’s pace” in response to public complaints over unauthorized transactions related to mobile phone credits, a telecommunications operators told the government Friday that they would launch tech upgrades that would prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

The operators claimed that the “credit theft” occurred because of an unintended glitch only made possible by conflicting systems that link their computers with those service content providers.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post after a meeting with the operator, Heru Sutadi, a spokesperson for the Indonesian Telecommunications Regulatory Body (BRTI), said the first thing the operators would do was correct the systems that control the option to terminate the content of a subscription.

Heru said that his agency received complaints that customers were unable to directly stop subscribing to unsolicited content, even if they had sent the “unregister” request.

“Customers still found that their phone credits had been exploited even though they had not wished to subscribe. Operators now seek to ensure such cases will not occur again,” he said.

The Indonesian Consumers Protection Foundation (YLKI) said credit theft had been around as long as the content providers.

Their methods for corrupting phone credits varies. One of the oldest methods includes an apparent inability to unsubscribe from a service. Other methods include automatic registration, hidden registration through message broadcasting and tricky service fee system, among others.

YLKI committee member Tulus Abadi said that in addition to attempting to halt services, there had been troubles in seeking BRTI cooperation in investigating various cases of credit theft.

“They have conducted several meetings with operators and the ministry to seek answers and solutions to these problems Yet, as of today, there have still not been any affirmative results,” he said.

“So far, we see that BRTI has close relations with phone operators. They will likely protect them more than they protect other customers,” he said.

Tulus said YLKI received 590 complaints last year against telecommunication companies. The number increased from 501 cases in 2009 and 428 cases in 2008.

The Indonesian Mobile and Online Content Providers Association (IMOCA) also questioned BRTI’s commitment in protecting the customers.

IMOCA chief A. Haryawirasama said earlier this week that the regulatory body had been ineffective. “We are worried that the BRTI has been compromised,” he said.