Government hangs up on telemarketers
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Aiming to curb the menace of unsolicited commercial calls and messages, telecom sector watchdog Wednesday issued orders for all such numbers to begin with '70', making it easier to identify these calls, and proposed hefty fines for violators.
'Any call that comes from any number beginning with 70 will be a commercial call and the customer has choice of receiving or not receiving the call. A unique SMS header has been mandated for easy identification of commercial SMSes,' Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement.
The regulation also barred sending commercial communication between 9 p.m. to 9 a.m., even for unregistered customers.
The regulation will be effective from Jan 1, 2011.
Unlike the previous regulations that asked customers to register their numbers in 'do not call' list, users can now choose from different categories like 'fully blocked' or 'partially blocked', under which a customer can receive communication for categories of his choice.
Subscribers can register by calling or sending a message to toll free number 1909. The restrictions will come into effect within 7 days of logging in the request, much faster than the earlier waiting period of 45 days.
Also proposed are hefty fines ranging from Rs.25,000 to Rs.2.5 lakh, depending on the number of violations. Thereafter, the telemarketer could also be barred for two years and its connection terminated by all service providers.
The regulator said inspite of efforts to stop unwanted commercial calls, the menace was widespread. A few months back, even Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee received a marketing call while he was preiding over an important meeting. The caller was offering him a home loan.
The operators have largely welcomed the new regulations.
Telemarketers are required to enter into an agreement with the service provider before they get telecom resources. The service providers are required to deduct these amounts and deposit them with TRAI.
For stopping unregistered entities from making such calls, TRAI said that 'in the event of such an unsolicited commercial communication (from an unregistered ordinary subscriber), he will be warned on the first offence and his telephone disconnected on commission of the second offence.'
The regulator also asked telecom operators to refrain from providing packages that contained more than 100 messages per day.
The procedure of registration for telemarketers with TRAI has also been simplified. They now have the facility of registering and paying the necessary fees online.
On receiving complaints from users on violations, telecom service providers will be required to respond to their grievances and inform them of the action taken within seven days.
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