The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released regulations aimed at curbing unsolicited telemarketing calls and text messages. These are expected to be implemented by 1 January, 2011. Telemarketing companies violating these guidelines will be charged a fine of up to Rs 0.25 million and may also be blacklisted.
Besides, the regulations also mandate that no commercial communication shall be sent to users between 9 pm and 9 am. To help unregistered subscribers identify such calls, telemarketers will be issued a different set of numbers starting with 70.
Also, the user can choose to be listed in either the fully blocked category, which is similar to the Do Not Call Registry service or the partially blocked category, wherein he will receive text messages pertaining to pre-selected subjects. These include: banking and financial products, real estate, education, health, consumer goods, automobiles, communication and entertainment, tourism and leisure.
The telemarketing company will be given six opportunities to comply with the guidelines. Failing which, they will be fined Rs 25,000 for the first offence, up to Rs 75,000 in case of a second violation, Rs 80,000 for the third, Rs 0.125 million for the fourth, Rs 0.15 million for the fifth and Rs 0.25 million for the sixth offence, following which the number will be blocked by all operators.
While operators support this move, they say that that keeping to the 1 January deadline for compliance may be an issue. Rajan Mathews, director general, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) commented that while TRAI?s guidelines are appropriate, as they provide the customer with the freedom of receiving or rejecting a call, implementation of the regulations under the given timeframe is altogether another aspect.
