TRAI cracks down on spammers; blacklists four telemarketing firms

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has disclosed that it has disconnected 26,769 subscribers and issued notices to 36,156 subscribers for sending pesky SMSes and making unsolicited calls. The regulator further said it had penalised 94 telemarketers and blacklisted four other telemarketers for violating its SMS Spam regulations, which came into force on 27th September 2011.

As per the provisions of this regulation, subscribers are supposed to get registered with National Customer Preference Register (NCPR) for not receiving any kind of pesky calls and SMSes. A total of 161.66 million subscribers have registered with NCPR as on March 29, 2012, reveals the TRAI. As per the guidelines, notice will be served to the customer for sending unsolicited commercial calls and SMSes. In case of second violation, the number will be disconnected.

Of late the TRAI has made various efforts to curb pesky calls and SMSes. But every time telemarketers manage to find a loophole and continue with their pesky calls. The regulator started with “Do Not Call” registry, which did not receive much success, as most of the telemarketing companies declined to register themselves with the Department of Telecom, it's learnt.

The regulatory body last year brought a SMS cap to curb pesky calls and text messages. The Hindu in its coverage on the TRAI crackdown says telemarketers are now sending pesky SMSes through international gateways after the regulator body imposed 200 SMSes per day per SIMrestriction. It's notable that SMSes sent through overseas operators do not come under TRAI's purview; therefore cannot be penalised or blacklisted.

Recently, the regulatory body asked the telecom operators to do away from ambiguous mobile tariff advertisements and provide complete information to users. Read our previous coverage here.

Registered subscribers receiving pesky calls and messages may lodge their complaint by dialing or sending SMS to 1909. For any clarification/ information, Advisor(QoS), TRAI may be contacted at
Telephone No. +91-23230404, Fax No. +91-11-23213036 or email at advqos@trai.gov.in.