Can you save yourself from telecallers?

MUMBAI, INDIA: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, receiving an unsolicited telemarketing call on his mobile amidst a key meeting recently, shouldn't be seen as a rare incident in India which has over 600 million wireless subscriber base.

However, the incident provoked Telecom Minister A Raja to activate his ministry to take steps against such calls that “encroach” into the privacy of telecom consumers. Though TRAI had been trying hard to ban such nuisance, it never bore fruit.

Immediately Raja has asked Telecom Secretary P J Thomas to convene a meeting to take steps to prohibit such calls immediately.

“A wide range of products and services are offered through tele-marketing, resulting in inconvenience and disturbance to telecom consumers,” said Raja in a note to the secretary.

The Finance Minister is not the first or lone person to get such unsolicited telemarketing calls in today's time. Day in and day out we all get innumerable calls and suffer mentally.

This incident has once again brought into light the kind practices that are prevalent and exercised in India's booming telecom sector.

And it's not just restricted to such unwanted calls that try to offer or sell products right from loans, credit cards, mobile connections to holiday plans, bank accounts and so forth. Apart from those calls, the inbox of mobile users also get flooded with marketing SMSes round the clock which compels them to delete those messages at the very next moment it lands in.

There are software solutions firms, which provide applications for mass or bulk SMSes at affordable cost and also free software application is available on the Internet, which is allowing not just large businesses and companies for SMS-based marketing. Even local shop owners are opting for this easy way to reach potential customers.

Although the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has framed strict guidelines and policies for operators to adhere and protect the subscribers' interest and privacy, this recent incident underscores the sad reality.

With the mobile telecom war getting stronger, the nuisance also increases.

TRAI has formed the National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC Registry) to curb Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC), where subscribers who wish not to receive UCC can register and provide their telephone numbers in the database. This registration will block UCC to the subscribers from all over India.

Under the NDNC Registry, all the operators offer Do Not Disturb (DND) facility for free, which stops telemarketers from calling the registered subscribers. However, after opting for DND facility, it takes 45 days before the subscriber can have peace of mind from those unsolicited marketing calls. And there are several cases of subscribers complaining of getting UCC even after registering with DND facility.

Does it mean that the large subscriber base that hasn't opted for DND facility will continuously be harassed by telecallers and UCC?

Ironically for subscribers, the operators claim to protect their privacy, number and personal details. And on the other side how the telemarketing companies are able to access the operators' subscribers database across India remains a mystery. Or is there any nexus between the operators and telemarketers?

While, the Finance Minister's incident would have given some sort of consolation to most subscribers that even VIPs are not spared, that also shows a pathetic picture of the efficacy of the regulations in the country.

However, it is great that the call to the Finance Minister ended up being an SOS call to the Telecom Ministry!