The review will consider options to strengthen the powers of ICSTIS - the industry-funded regulatory body for all premium rate services - as well as any other actions necessary.
There has been a public outcry over rogue diallers – software that installs a default dial-up number onto an unwitting person's computer to call a premium rate number, resulting in an unexpectedly expensive call every time the computer connects to the internet.
Such is the volume of complaints that earlier this month the Conservative MP for NW Hants, Sir George Young, described ICSTIS as being in a state of "meltdown".
Over the past few months Ofcom has been in talks with the Department of Trade and Industry, ICSTIS, the telecoms ombudsman and the network and service providers, resulting in a July announcement by ICSTIS that every company wanting to run premium rate services using internet dialler software must first get the regulator's prior permission.
But Ofcom is keen to do more to strengthen consumer protection and consumer confidence in the premium rate industry – which is worth more than £1 billion a year to the UK economy.
Ofcom will therefore conduct a more wide-ranging assessment of the regulation of premium rate services, including an assessment of whether ICSTIS has the tools it needs to regulate an industry with such a large number of participants. The review will take place in August and September this year.
Any necessary changes to the ICSTIS Code of Practice arising from the review would be the subject of public consultation in the autumn, as would any other potential changes to the wider regulatory framework.