And Yet Sprint Redeems Itself

It what we view as a positive move by Sprint, they are clamping down on mobile service partners who have very high return rates. At the same time Sprint will be providing good partners up to a 10% discount. Who is this directed at? Folks like Jamster and Buongiorno’s Blinko. –

Sprint Nextel Corp. hopes to clean up the direct-to-consumer content business by hitting wayward partners where it hurts.

The carrier last month told off-deck content aggregators that it will be “strictly enforcing” new revenue-share penalties for vendors who violate Mobile Marketing Association guidelines. Partners who repeatedly stray out of bounds — by incurring high refund rates, for instance, or not reporting billing errors to the carrier — can forfeit every dime and lose their short codes, while those who play by the rules can see as much as a 10% bump in revenue splits.

“Non-compliant short code campaigns will receive penalties up to and including program termination from Sprint Nextel Boost networks,” according to a confidential five-page memo to aggregators obtained by RCR Wireless News. “Conversely, revenue share incentives may be applied for programs performing well on policy compliance.”

This is a positive consumer development. Way too many stories make the press of $8000 monthly bills for services never intended because some teenager thought he/she was getting a free ringtone.

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