The Internet Society of China (ISC) on Thursday officially set up the country's first anti-spam text message alliance, the latest move to address the long-time headache for the country's 574 million-plus mobile phone users.

Association chairman Hu Qiheng said the industry was endeavoring to solve the problem through industry self-discipline. It also wanted to establish a system and legal foundation to solve this problem completely.

More than 30 companies have signed the ISC's self-discipline pact on anti-spam text messages. These included China Mobile, the nation's largest mobile phone operator, China Unicom and other leading portal websites, Sina.com among them.

Statistics revealed Chinese cell phone users were affected by 353.8 billion spam text messages last year, up 92.7 percent year on year.

The country's Internet watchdog had received 438,668 spamming complaints by June. Of those reported, 39.17 percent were fraudulent and 36.28 percent commercial adverts.

According to an ISC guideline, message senders should first get the recipient's consent before sending commercial messages.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology vowed last month to tackle this long-existing problem and fight spammers nationwide.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2008)