Orange plagued by protests as SMS service is shut down

Orange has whipped up a storm of controversy following its decision to kill one of the UK's oldest mobile communities.

'Locust' was set up in 1996 by Jon Anderson, who negotiated a flat fee with Orange for the sending of text messages.

Subscribers could receive unlimited text messages for just £3 a month, and over the years Anderson's community built up to over 600 users, who used his service for SMS-based games, news and messaging.

However, Orange recently decided to stop the tariff Anderson was using, and Locust now faces extinction.

The campaign to save Locust has been building momentum but Orange refuses to back down.

A spokeswoman said: "We never actually offered the service that he is using, he's effectively exploiting a loophole.

"It's a difficult decision for us because it is a service that lots of people have enjoyed. But we can't make an exception for him. We have a business to run and Locust is costing us a lot of money."

Industry expert Simon Buckingham, CEO of Mobile Streams, said that Orange has been suffering quality of service problems on its SMS system all year, and this is part of an on-going campaign to correct the situation.

He said: "Orange know that they are going to sell a lot of phones over Christmas, a lot of people will be sending messages over Christmas and the New Year, and they're network isn't going to be able to cope.

"What they should be doing is investing in new SMS equipment, but with the current economic climate everyone is trying to delay any capital expenditure as long as they can."