Mobile phone providers have agreed to provide customers with additional information on how to keep their voice messages secure, after the Data Protection Commissioner last week questioned the need for remote access to the service.

The commissioner had contacted all the providers here in the wake of the phone hacking scandal involving the News of the World newspaper in Britain gaining illegal access to thousands of voice messages.

Billy Hawkes today welcomed steps taken by Emobile, Meteor, 02, Three and Vodafone to improve the security of voicemail.

He said that while the voicemail security features of some of the companies was “better than others”, they had all responded “in an exemplary fashion” to a request to urgently examine this area to better protect customers.

He said he was now satisfied that the steps taken or to be taken would achieve the same common goal of better protecting customer data as making the service an opt-in one.

“It is now important that the public follow the advice of their mobile provider and where they have not already done so take steps to either secure their voicemail and phones generally or improve upon the measures they may have already taken,” Mr Hawkes said.

“At the end of this process it will no longer be possible to access a person’s voicemail using a default password.”

Tommy McCabe of the industry group the Irish Cellular Industry Assocation said mobile operators had measures in place “to inform customers of their options to enhance the protection of voicemail services”.

“We recommend that individuals take steps to ensure that their voicemail is appropriately protected. Information on how to do this is available from respective operators’ websites.”

Meteor and Emobile have both provided on their websites additional information on how to secure voicemail. They will also send a text message to customers in the coming days.

02 has begun to communicate with customers to advise how they can keep voicemail secure. This programme will include text messages and a pre-recorded advisory when customers dial into their voicemail to retrieve messages. It has also updated its website.

The commissioner said Three was communicating to customers the importance of securing voicemail with a unique PIN number known only to the customer.

It will also provide an online help and support update to advise customers on the level of security they should use when setting up their PIN.

From tomorrow, Vodafone Ireland customers will hear information when they dial 171 on how they can change their voicemail password at any time. The company has also made additional information available on its website today.

It said it would continue to inform its customers in the coming weeks on new enhanced security options.

Earlier this week, the European Commission issued warnings to 20 member states which had not yet notified measures to fully implement new EU telecoms rules into national law by a May 25th deadline.

The new rules give businesses and consumers new rights regarding phones, mobile services and Internet access.

They include the right for customers to switch operators in just one day without changing their phone number, the right to more clarity about services offered and better protection of personal data online.

While the legislative process to implement the measures is ongoing in some member states, Ireland was one of those that had notified the commission it had implemented the new rules in full.