Press statement by WASPA.

The Wireless Application Service Providers’ Association of South Africa (WASPA) is not tendering or planning to tender for the contract to be the service provider responsible for maintaining South Africa’s ‘do not contact’ (DNC) registry.

That’s the word from Leon Perlman, chairman of WASPA. He said the organisation notes that there are unfounded rumours in the marketplace that WASPA is seeking to be given responsibility for running the DNC database that is to be set up in terms of the Consumer Protection Act. There is no truth to these rumours whatsoever, he adds.

The DNC is a registry of people who do not want to receive unsolicited sales and marketing material.

Perlman said that running such a database does not fit in with WASPA’s mandate or competencies. The organisation solely exists as a self-regulatory and lobbying body that promotes ethical behaviour in the industry and seeks to promote the growth of the WASP sector.

WASPA guides best practice among its members through its Code of Conduct, which outlines rules for unsolicited communication with consumers. The organisation believes strongly that mobile marketing should be opt-in only and encourages its members not to send unsolicited communications to consumers, he concluded.