Trai revises norms to curb pesky calls

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has come out with a revised notification to tighten norms for checking pesky telemarketing calls and messages.

The timing of such a user-friendly measure is important, as it has come ahead of elections (both assembly and general).

The new ‘Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications Amendment Regulations 2008’ has said that a service provider must complete investigation against subscriber complaints within 28 days.

If this timeline is not met, the originating access service providers would have to pay a financial penalty. This would not exceed Rs 5,000 for the first instance of non-compliance, going up to Rs 20,000, Trai had earlier said. Also, now every new phone subscriber will have to give the option of `do not call’ to avoid telemarketing communications.

Recently, the regulator also issued preliminary showcause notices to service providers “for not taking action against guilty telemarketers”.

The regulation on unsolicited commercial communication has now completed one year of operation, and only 5% of the telecom subscribers in India have actively shunned pesky calls.

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.