NEW DELHI: Mobile phone users may soon get
relief from pesky text messages after sector
regulator Trai on Monday issued a diktat to mobile
phone companies to allow only 100 text messages
a day for every connection at concessional rates.
Trai directed operators to implement its orders
within 15 days and warned that it would adopt a
'zero tolerance' policy towards unregistered
telemarketers that send millions of unsolicited
messages, selling everything from slimming
solutions to real estate.
The regulator also said that telcos must charge a
minimum of 50 paise for every message sent
beyond the prescribed limit.
These mark the first steps taken by the Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India to counter the
growing menace which was being caused primarily
by unregistered telemarketers that are much
higher in number compared to 2,771
telemarketers registered with the regulator. The
regulator's principal adviser and incharge of
consumer affairs N Parameswaran said
unregistered telemarketers were using discount
vouchers or packs that offered tariffs as low as 1
paise per message or less, to bombard consumers
with text messages.
"It is going to be a zero tolerance area for the
authority. The menace of pesky SMS will be
controlled. This is the first step, more will follow,"
he said and added that the objective of the new
directives was to control unregistered
telemarketers, disincentivise or discourage them
from sending commercial messages. "We want the
unregistered ones to get registered and follow the
rules of the game," Parameswaram added.
Telecom minister Kapil Sibal had rued last week
that he was, like all common consumers, troubled
with pesky messages. "I also face lot of problem.
Every two minutes I get such SMS. People...used
international servers (to send such SMSes), but
that also has been stopped," he had said.
Machines programmed to send out up to 5,000
SMSes a second are being used to push
promotional messages to more than 900 million
mobile users.
To put an end to this practice, mobile phone
companies will put in place a solution within three
months that will not allow an unregistered
telemarketer to send more than 200 commercial
SMSes of similar signature - characters, keywords
or strings of words - from any source or mobile
number in an hour. The source or the number will
be blocked if the 200-limit is breached. The same
set up is already being used to control pesky
messages coming from international locations.
The process to lodge complaints has been more
simplified. From Tuesday, consumers can forward
the pesky SMS with the number of origination and
date via SMS to 1909 to register their complaint.
There will be no cap on the number of text
messages that a consumer can send on a daily
basis as against rules that capped SMS usage to
200 a day in November last year.
Source - Economic Times
relief from pesky text messages after sector
regulator Trai on Monday issued a diktat to mobile
phone companies to allow only 100 text messages
a day for every connection at concessional rates.
Trai directed operators to implement its orders
within 15 days and warned that it would adopt a
'zero tolerance' policy towards unregistered
telemarketers that send millions of unsolicited
messages, selling everything from slimming
solutions to real estate.
The regulator also said that telcos must charge a
minimum of 50 paise for every message sent
beyond the prescribed limit.
These mark the first steps taken by the Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India to counter the
growing menace which was being caused primarily
by unregistered telemarketers that are much
higher in number compared to 2,771
telemarketers registered with the regulator. The
regulator's principal adviser and incharge of
consumer affairs N Parameswaran said
unregistered telemarketers were using discount
vouchers or packs that offered tariffs as low as 1
paise per message or less, to bombard consumers
with text messages.
"It is going to be a zero tolerance area for the
authority. The menace of pesky SMS will be
controlled. This is the first step, more will follow,"
he said and added that the objective of the new
directives was to control unregistered
telemarketers, disincentivise or discourage them
from sending commercial messages. "We want the
unregistered ones to get registered and follow the
rules of the game," Parameswaram added.
Telecom minister Kapil Sibal had rued last week
that he was, like all common consumers, troubled
with pesky messages. "I also face lot of problem.
Every two minutes I get such SMS. People...used
international servers (to send such SMSes), but
that also has been stopped," he had said.
Machines programmed to send out up to 5,000
SMSes a second are being used to push
promotional messages to more than 900 million
mobile users.
To put an end to this practice, mobile phone
companies will put in place a solution within three
months that will not allow an unregistered
telemarketer to send more than 200 commercial
SMSes of similar signature - characters, keywords
or strings of words - from any source or mobile
number in an hour. The source or the number will
be blocked if the 200-limit is breached. The same
set up is already being used to control pesky
messages coming from international locations.
The process to lodge complaints has been more
simplified. From Tuesday, consumers can forward
the pesky SMS with the number of origination and
date via SMS to 1909 to register their complaint.
There will be no cap on the number of text
messages that a consumer can send on a daily
basis as against rules that capped SMS usage to
200 a day in November last year.
Source - Economic Times
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