NOTICE TO THE INDUSTRY
Issued 6 September 2007
ICSTIS BECOMES PHONEPAYPLUS
As you may have already heard, ICSTIS will become PhonepayPlus on 15 October 2007. Changes in
the types of service on offer and the way in which we regulate mean that the name ICSTIS is no longer
an accurate description of our organisation and culture. Nor is it helpful in terms of public awareness.
We believe that PhonepayPlus will give consumers a much better understanding of the help and
advice we can provide. PhonepayPlus will continue where ICSTIS left off. We will continue to regulate
the promotion, content and overall operation of all services that are subject to our Code of Practice, and
we will continue to take action against those companies who break our rules. From early 2008, we will
also start regulating all services offered on 0871 numbers.
PhonepayPlus will focus on pre-empting and preventing problems – the key, we believe, to effective
long-term consumer protection and a dynamic, growing industry. We will be working closely with a
number of organisations over the coming months on a range of new consumer protection, youth
education and industry 'prevention rather than cure' initiatives. We want to have the right measures in
place to engender an industry-wide culture of compliance where services are offered responsibly and
consumers get a fair deal.
We are already in contact with phone companies, consumer bodies and others with high levels of public
contact about the services PhonepayPlus will offer. We will also be publishing further information on
our website in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you probably want to know exactly what the change
will mean to you.
Will our address and contact details be the same?
Yes, other than our change of name, our postal and Freepost addresses, as well as our switchboard,
fax, Contact Centre and Media Office numbers, will be unaffected. Our new website address will be
www.phonepayplus.org.uk. The address for our PHONEbrain website will remain unchanged:
www.phonebrain.org.uk.
Will the people I deal with on a regular basis change?
No, your usual contacts, and their telephone numbers, will remain the same, while their email
addresses will end with @phonepayplus.org.uk.
Do I need to make changes to existing publications or websites?
If you identify areas where you want to update printed or electronic material, please contact us as we
can help by providing our new logo and accompanying text.
We want our role, our new name and the ways to contact us understood as widely as possible, and
would therefore ask that you bring the change to the attention of all colleagues with an interest in our
work. We appreciate that you may have additional questions in the run-up to 15 October so please feel
free to email us at branding@phonepayplus.org.uk.
We look forward to collaborating with you over the coming months to build the best regulatory
environment for consumers and industry alike.