MMS crackdown hurts web portals

Sohu's MMS service will be temporarily suspended by China Mobile, as well as its application for potential new business. China Mobile is also demanding damages from Sohu Online of Rmb 1,374. In a conference call with investors, Sohu officials blamed unintentional technical errors for triggering the spam message. "It is just unfortunate that these things happen when China Mobile is in the midst of a clean-up campaign," said Sohu chairman and CEO Charles Zhang. Twenty-two other wireless service providers, including Sina and Kongzhong.com, have received stiff penalties from China Mobile in recent weeks for different infractions, including dissemination of pornography and spamming of mobile users. Sina's suspension related to interactive voice response service violations to some of China Mobile's operating policies. The crackdown is part of a wider initiative by the telco to better control content."We are starting to see telcos in China defining things more clearly," said Wunderman regional director of mobile marketing, Thomas Meyer. "In China, it is about messages being acceptable from a political standpoint and it's about telcos wanting to control what goes out to users." China's crackdown follows a suspension of SMS lucky draws by Celcom in Malaysia, and moves in Singapore to draw up mobile marketing guidelines. Meyer added: "For mobile marketers, the prospect of having a more controlled market is not necessarily bad because if you look at it from a long term perspective, it's going to help us keep the medium clean."