We have since contacted Ms Teo's father to explain the charges applicable for his subscription and download charges for content service - Pitch. The matter has been resolved.

Customers are not charged for receiving SMSes on their mobile phones, including marketing messages by content providers. We would like to clarify that today when customers receive such SMSes, they are not automatically 'signed up' even if they do not respond to these messages.

Customers would usually be charged a subscription if they accept an offer by replying to the content provider via an SMS or by visiting the content provider's website to download contents. To cancel a subscription, customers need to inform the content provider in the manner set out by it.

In these instances, SingTel is a billing agent and bills customers on behalf of the content providers. Our current practice complies with the guidelines in IDA's new code of practice for Premium Rate Service Providers. This includes printing the contact numbers and details of the content providers on our bill. While the dispute relates to the charges levied by the content providers, we assist our customers by highlighting their case with the respective content provider and tracking the progress on their behalf.

We thank Ms Teo and Mr Goh for their feedback.

Cheam Tze Hui (Ms)

Corporate Communications Manager

SingTel