Paying a premium

Since 2004, mobile premium services (MPSs) have become an increasingly popular form of text messaging, providing new opportunities for entertainment, information, and interaction through consumers' handsets. Some of the most commonly used MPSs include jokes, horoscopes, chat, sports and weather updates, trivia games, and contests. Consumers purchase MPSs as either one-time services, such as texting a vote to television, or subscription services, such as daily jokes that are sent via text message to the consumers' handset until the consumer unsubscribes. MPS messages are charged a premium rate, usually on a per-message basis, in addition to standard text message costs, and are not included in any unlimited text messaging plan currently offered in Canada. The consumer will be billed for receiving premium text messages regardless of whether they open the messages or respond to the messages. The industry refers to mobile premium services as "common short codes."