Premium rate phone lines ring up £1.6bn

Premium rate phone lines will rake in £1.6bn this year, according to a report out today.

The sector's regulator, ICSTIS, said that services including company helpline numbers, TV vote lines and ring tones were among the biggest earners.

ICSTIS also announced in its annual report that it received nearly 19,600 complaints from consumers about premium rate services last year. Ring tones, horoscope updates, football goal alerts and other mobile phone subscription services were the worst offenders, provoking more than 6,700 complaints.

However, these numbers represent a 75% fall on the previous year due to a crackdown on rogue internet diallers. Internet diallers provoked 2,827 complaints compared to 2,264 about non-subscription mobile phone services and 1,119 about automatic "prize claim" lines.

An ICSTIS spokeswoman said many people complained because they had not realised they were signing up for regular payments. "Probably the most common problem we find is that people often subscribe thinking it is a one-off," she said. "When they read the small-print it is actually something different."

The premium rate sector covers any information or entertainment that is charged to a phone - even if that service is accessed by fax, PC or interactive TV.

It costs on average between 10p and £1.50 per minute to phone a premium rate number. Most of these services are offered on dialling codes starting with 09. Other premium rate services are dialled via mobile numbers or the 118 directory enquiries services.