TRAI ensures no more unsolicited calls

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Saturday ensured that the war against unsolicited marketing calls has begun.
  
''To stop unsolicited calls, a subscriber has to register himself in the National Do Not Call Registry (NDNCR) by calling his service provider,'' TRAI said in a statement.

The subscriber will get a registration reference number within 48 hours and will stop getting calls 45 days after registration, TRAI said.

The telecom body affirmed that all the services will be free of cost.

''Subscribers need to just call their service providers and ask to be signed up or alternately send an SMS to the same customer-care number. Some companies are offering web registration also.''

In case, the telemarketing calls persists, the service provider should be reported. If it's a telemarketer who is registered with TRAI, it can be fined Rs 500 a minute for the call made to subscriber.

If the call came from an unregistered telemarketer, the service provider will forward its number to TRAI, which will order disconnection of the phone line used for making the call, TRAI  added.

Telecom department sources said the Reserve Bank of India has directed all banks in India to deal only with telemarketers registered with the NDNCR. There are about 5,000 registered telemarketers, with two lakh phones listed in the registry.