=CM= wrote on Dec 11
th, 2006 at 3:57pm:
This is indeed good news. There should be a webring of sites like that and this one, holding virtual hands across Europe, waving virtual 1-finger salutes at the anti-competitive rash of premium numbers. But where are the French, the Dutch, the Spanish etc?!
Most other EU countries have proper premium rate numbers where people know they are paying for the service they use by calling the number in question (eg sex chat lines and competition voting lines) but I'm not so sure they all have covert premium rate numbers that pretend to be standard local and national rate calls to callers while in fact being lower cost premium rate revenue sharing numbers. I think that is entirely an OFTEL and Ofcom permitted invention in cunning connivance with BT and the call centre industry at large.
The voting lines used for the Eurovision Song Contest provide a general EU wide indicator of what is going on elsewhere. Also so far as I can recall the UK did use a proper 09 premium rate voting structure for its Eurovision voting lines this year.