zamano is urging its fellow aggregators to support the proposed clampdown by regulators on rogue D2C content companies. Last week, both the European Commission (EC) and the UKs premium telephony watchdog PhonePayPlus announced action to tackle abuses by rip-off ringtone vendors. 
zamano UK Country Manager Declan Pettit says:
As with any communications network providing an open channel between content companies and consumers, there is potential for misuseWe believe the mobile content industry can only fulfill its true potential when consumers have complete confidence in the quality and value for money of services they consume on their mobile. Working in complete alignment with regulation is the only way for the industry to achieve this.
The EC is following up after consumer complaints led it to investigate 500 websites across 27 EU member states, plus Norway and Iceland. It may act against 466 cases. Meanwhile, PhonePayPlus has confirmed that any company not allowing customers to stop a mobile content subscription quickly and easily will be barred from operation with immediate effect.
The crackdown is a throwback to 2004, when the UK regulator first imposed a mandatory Stop option for all consumers taking out subscriptions for mobile personalisation products. That action appeared to work, reducing complaints, but also causing a slowdown in the off-deck mobile content industry. Earlier this year, however,  PhonePayPlus revealed a dramatic rise in consumer complaints, with 4,500 in the first three months of 2008 alone.
The ECs report said 268 sites had some irregularities in the price, while some did not show the price at all. Others did not make it clear that consumers were entering into a subscription. Meanwhile, 399 sites failed to give complete contract details of the trader, while 344 presented information in what the authorities regarded as a misleading way.