VANCOUVER - The Roman Catholic archbishop of Vancouver is considering cancelling contracts with Telus after the phone company began making pornography available through its cellphones.
Canada's second largest phone company now offers pornographic photos and videos to its customers and confirms it has been receiving complaints from upset customers.
Telus introduced the service in January. In doing so, it became the first wireless provider in the country to offer pornographic photos and videos at $3-4 each.
Archbishop Raymond Roussin is upset, saying the move takes the ''accessibility of pornographic material further into the public realm.''
Roussin told The B.C. Catholic newspaper that the move is especially ill-considered because of the problems pornography is causing in society.
"Given the increasing awareness about the problem of sexual addiction to pornography through Internet access, and the abuse that this perpetuates of vulnerable persons, Telus's decision is disappointing and disturbing.''
But, said Telus spokesman Jim Johannsson, the company is not breaking the law nor is it providing something that has not been available on cellphones for some time.
"We have the utmost respect for (Roussin's) perspective but the reality is that adult content has been available on cellphones equipped with web browsers for the past several years with no controls of any kind,'' Johannsson said.
"We feel that the responsible thing to do is put in place age verification controls and to ensure that the content complies with all provincial standards and regulations and is legal for download in Canada,'' he added.
Johannsson said the material available for download is not considered obscene under Canadian law.
The B.C. Catholic, the official publication of the archdiocese, reports the archbishop plans to raise his concerns with parishes and schools throughout the Archdiocese of Vancouver.
He is also considering directing Catholic institutions to terminate their contracts with Telus Mobility.
As of last week, the company had received more than 135 complaints, a number which continues to climb, Johannsson said.
The Catholic Church is not the only organization concerned about the company, the Vancouver Sun reports.
Meritas Mutual Funds, a socially responsible fund that holds Telus shares, says Telus's decision to sell adult content as part of its mobile phone service is disappointing.
"The search of a minimal increase in revenue through questionable means doesn't seem like the right decision,'' Meritas CEO Gary Hawton said in an interview with the Vancouver Sun.
"It makes me wonder if Telus understands the value of their reputation and their brand in the eyes of their investors,'' Hawton said.
"We're disappointed that a company that is seen in many respects as an excellent company . . . is making a decision that certainly moves them down a notch within their industry.''
British-based Juniper Research estimates revenues of $14.5 billion US could be generated by the adult mobile content sector over the next five years.
A study by Juniper estimates that video-based services will account for over 70 per cent of revenue in the mobile adult content market by 2011.
Johannsson was interviewed over a phone which had 25 channels of TV, 20 channels of radio, the ability to download music from a library of more than 500,000 songs and the ability to function as an MP3 player.
"The responsible thing for us to do is provide our customers with the knowledge to understand how to get the benefits and the tools to manage the risks,'' he said.
"Today's cellphones are a long, long way from where there were three or four years ago. A lot of people were surprised they had that much power clipped to their belts,'' he said.
