The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has directed telecom operators to discontinue the international calling facility (ISD) provided in prepaid numbers without the consent of the subscribers.
TRAI’s directions are based on consumer complaints that they often get missed calls from international telephone numbers which are often premium numbers charging high tariff. Subscribers end up making calls to such numbers.
It has asked operators to inform all prepaid subscribers about discontinuation of ISD facility through SMS within next 10 days. The operators have to communicate to their subscribers that their ISD facility will be discontinued within next 60 days. However, in case subscribers want to continue with the ISD services, they have to provide their explicit consent for the same to operators within the 60 days of the receipt of the SMS.
TRAI has asked telecom operators to send such SMS to consumers every six months, providing them transparent opt-in and opt-out facility for activation or deactivation of ISD facility.
It has also directed operators to inform their prepaid consumers that they should not respond to missed calls from unknown international numbers.
