This is the first time since the norms to check unsolicited commercial communications were announced last year that action is being taken against telcos
NEW DELHI; The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is in the process of issuing show-cause notices to service providers violating the regulation to curb unwanted telemarketing calls.
This is the first time since the norms to check unsolicited commercial communications were announced last year that action is being taken against telcos over non-compliance.
According to the Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications Regulation 2007, unwanted telemarketing calls should stop 45 days after a subscriber registers his or her phone number with the do-not-call registry.
Trai chairman Nripendra Misra told this newspaper: “We are issuing some showcause notices to companies for non-compliance of telemarketing regulation.” He didn’t name the telcos.
Notices are being sent to three or four telecom firms, which did not take any action after complaints were registered by subscribers, it is learnt.
The telcos have to reply within 15 days of getting the notice. If the regulator is not satisfied with the telcos’ replies to the notices, financial penalty may be imposed on them. The penalty would not exceed Rs 5,000 for the first instance of non-compliance, going up to Rs 20,000.
The regulator is also strengthening the provisions of the telemarketing regulation, where the interpretation is not clear on the subject.
A Trai official said that, till now, the timeline for taking action was not prescribed for telcos after they received complaints from subscribers.
It is learnt that a timeline of three weeks is likely to be set for the telcos for taking action against the erring telemarketer after a subscriber complaints.
Earlier this year, telecom associations-COAI and Auspi-called the provision to impose financial penalties on telcos as “most unfair”. They told Trai that service providers have little or no control over unsolicited commercial calls.
“The service providers merely provide the pipes for the carriage of the calls and cannot be held responsible for such pesky, nuisance made by the marketing agencies,” their letter to the Trai chairman had said.
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