The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a set of stringent regulations to curb unsolicited telemarketing calls and text messages, which will be effective from January 1, 2011. According to TRAI’s Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, telemarketing companies violating these guidelines will be fined up to Rs 250,000 and made liable for blacklisting.

Earlier too, TRAI had tried to curb unsolicited calls and text messages through a notification in 2007. However, despite that effort and other initiatives taken by the regulator in the past two years, users have continued to face unrelenting intrusion from telemarketers. According to a TRAI study, though unsolicited commercial voice calls have decreased to some extent, the number of unsolicited SMSs has increased significantly, causing inconvenience to telecom subscribers.

This time, TRAI has decided to take a tougher stance. Unlike the previous regulation, which provided for only a “National Do Not Call Registry” (NDNCR) service, the new regulations have been designed to give a greater choice to subscribers. Users can either opt for a fully blocked category, which is similar to the NDNCR service, or the partially blocked category, wherein they would receive text messages pertaining to pre-selected subjects such as banking, insurance, financial products, real estate, education, health, consumer goods, automobiles, communication, entertainment, tourism and leisure.

Under the revised regulations, subscribers who have already registered with the NDNCR will not need to register again. Streamlining the registration system further, user registration will now be effective within seven days, unlike in the past when it used to take 45 days. Moreover, the regulations give an aggrieved user the option of lodging a complaint with the service provider directly. The operator is thereafter required to take appropriate action and inform the user of the action taken within seven days.

Besides, the regulations mandate that no commercial communication shall be sent to any user (registered or unregistered) between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m..

To help unregistered subscribers identify such calls, telemarketers are to be issued a different set of numbers starting with 70. Customers would have the option of not receiving such commercial calls. Likewise, a unique SMS header has been mandated for easy identification of commercial text messages.

In a bid to crack down on unregistered telemarketers, the regulator has also stipulated that no service provider may provide packages containing more than 100 SMSs a day. Further, every service provider will have to ensure that all commercial communication originating from its network is managed in accordance with these regulations.

In case of violation, telemarketers will face a penalty, which is a staggering 250 times higher than the earlier maximum stipulated penalty of Rs 1,000. From January 2011, telemarketing companies found guilty will be given six opportunities to comply with the regulations, failing which they will be fined Rs 25,000 for the first offence, up to Rs 75,000 for the second violation, Rs 80,000 for the third, Rs 125,000 for the fourth, Rs 150,000 for the fifth and Rs 250,000 for the sixth offence, following which the number would be blocked by all operators.

Telemarketers currently registered with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) need to list themselves again.

To register complaints, a customer can call 1909. Complaints can also be registered via SMS. While transactional messages such as those from banks, insurance companies, service providers, airlines and railways are excluded from the new restrictions, they will only have to be in the form of SMSs and be restricted to relevant information. Promotional content in transactional messages is not permitted. 

In all, the steps are in the interest of the user and as such, operators support this move. However, they say that keeping to the January 1, 2011 deadline for compliance may be an issue. Rajan Mathews, director-general, Cellular Operators’ Association of India, commented that while TRAI’s guidelines were appropriate as they provided the customer with the freedom of receiving or rejecting a call, implementation of the regulations within the given time frame is altogether another aspect.