Iran warns telcos against sending ad messages to subscribers

Iran’s Communications Regulatory Authority says mobile operators are not allowed to send advertisement text messages to their subscribers, Financial Tribune reported. The ombudsman deputy director Hossein Fallah Joshaqani warned operators, saying companies are only allowed to send the bill alert notification to users. Joshaqani noted that unwanted text message advertisements have become a nuisance to mobile phone users. 

Joshaqani said the authority has received thousands of complaints regarding such messages sent out by operators, warning that in case operators fail to comply with the rules, CRA will resort to legal action. In November 2017, the organization launched an automated online system through which subscribers can register complaints against numbers that send ads. According to the CRA, numbers of companies that continue to send ad messages will be blocked. The authority blocked close to 3,000 numbers in the first week after the system was launched.