Malaysia’s second largest mobile phone company, Celcom Mobile, has been stopped by government officials from running an SMS-based contest offering new cars after complaints from unspecified sources that it “resembled gambling” and involved excessive SMS charges. In a brief statement, Celcom said it would temporarily halt its “100 days, 100 cars” campaign “…due to intervention by the regulatory authority.” The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, a government agency in charge of the industry, directed Celcom to end the contest, saying that some participants had complained their phone bills had soared as a result of the high SMS charges levied for contest questions. Celcom management are awaiting a ruling by Islamic authorities on whether the contest is permissible under Islam before making a final decision on the contest, which required subscribers to answer quiz questions correctly each day in a contest originally planned to run through to September 9. Each SMS cost 5 ringgit instead of the average 0.20 ringgit for an SMS.
MALAYSIA CLAMPS DOWN ON DUBIOUS MOBILE CONTEST
Malaysia’s second largest mobile phone company, Celcom Mobile, has been stopped by government officials from running an SMS-based contest offering new cars after complaints from unspecified sources that it
