Mike Lordan, chief of operations at the DMA, said a survey commissioned by his organisation highlighted how the public lacked an authority where they could direct complaints about text spam.
Lordan said regulators needed to act immediately, adding that the DMA had offered to help set up a body to deal with the problem, to prevent the public becoming hostile to marketing messages delivered via their mobile phones.
Research by the direct marketing industry body found that almost half of mobile phone owners (43%) had received unsolicited spam SMS regarding accident claims, debt management or mis-selling of personal protection insurance.
Yet confusion still reigned among this group over what to do if they wished to complain about the practice.
Of these people, 46% had no idea where to take their grievance, the DMA said, while 17% said they would complain to their network provider, 20% to Ofcom, 9% to the Office of Fair Trading, 4% to the Ministry of Justice and 3% to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Lordan said: "The results of our survey show that the public don’t know who to turn to when they want to complain about receiving SMS spam.
"This is hardly surprising, given the fact that regulators have yet to determine which of them is or should be responsible for taking action against mobile spam.
"This is obviously causing great frustration for those mobile phone owners who are being plagued by spam, and it’s also causing serious damage to the legitimate mobile marketing industry."
Lordan added: "If spam is allowed to continue unchecked, then consumers will naturally become hostile to all mobile marketing messages."
The survey of 1,200 UK adults was conducted by Toluna QuickSurveys for the DMA.