Malaysia-based Maxis Communications introduced a new service that arms subscribers to control, personalize and automate their short message service to tackle unsolicited SMS and spam.

The new service- Message Plus, according to Dr Nikoliai Dobberstein, business head, Maxis, is the first anti-spam or blacklist feature to be offered to subscribers by a mobile operator in the world.

“Spam has annoyed millions of mobile phone users globally, as well as our customers. For this reason, we want to help customers avoid receiving spam and unsolicited SMS,” said Dr Dobberstein.

Speaking on the new service, Dr Dobberstein said the blacklist feature operates for Maxis numbers such as 012, 0142 or 017 and will be charged RM 1 (Ringgit Malaysian) a month. The same package also comprises of auto-reply and SMS features.

He further expressed his confidence in the package and said that a user-friendly and lifestyle-relevant SMS-management service like Message Plus is bound to attract many subscribers, particularly in a country like Malaysia where SMS is the most popular non-voice communications channel for mobile users.

Malaysia stands sixth in the world for total SMS volume.