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TRAI proposes heavy fine on telemarketing firms

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI, INDIA: In order to end the menace of unwanted telemarketing calls, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today recommended to impose heavy fine of up to Rs 2.5 lakh per offence on telemarketing firms for making unsolicited calls to customers who have registered under Do Not Call Registry.

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The defaulting telemarketers will be liable to pay heavy penalties. The telemarketers are required to enter into an agreement with the service provider before they get telecom resources, said TRAI.

The new regulation, named The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010, says that, as part of the agreement, the telemarketers are required to commit that the fine could be deducted by the service provider from the security deposit offered by them.

The proposed fine is: First offence Rs. 25,000, second offence Rs. 75,000, third offence Rs. 80,000, fourth offence Rs. 1,20,000, fifth offence Rs. 1,50,000, and sixth offence Rs.2,50,000.

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The service providers will have to deduct these amounts from the telemarketing firm and deposit the same with TRAI. This apart the errant telemarketer firm will be blacklisted on commission of the sixth offence. The telecom resources of the blacklisted telemarketer will be disconnected by all the service providers and will not be restored for a period of two years.

An aggrieved customer can lodge complaint with his service provider, who is required to take appropriate action and inform the customer of the action taken within seven days.

TRAI under this new regulation has given option to go for fully blocked or partially blocked category. Fully blocked category is akin to the earlier Do Not Call Registry regulation.

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In case a customer wants to go for partially blocked category then he will receive SMS asking for the category from which he wants to receive SMSes.

Partially blocked category user can choose to get SMS from various category of his choice. This category includes banking, insurance, financial products, credit cards, real estate, education, health, consumer goods and automobiles, communication, broadcasting, entertainment, IT, tourism and leisure.

Customers registered under NDNC register will continue to exist in fully blocked category.

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For registering under fully blocked list through SMS, a customer will have to SMS “START 0” 1909 and for partially blocked list, the short codes are given as under:

“START 1” for receiving SMS relating to banking, insurance, financial products, credit cards; “START 2” for real estate, “START 3” for education, “START 4” for health, “START 5” for consumer goods and automobiles, “START 6” for communication, broadcasting, entertainment and IT, and “START 7” for receiving SMS relating to tourism and leisure.

A customer can also choose multiple preferences from categories of preference by sending SMS like “START 1,2” and so on, based on their preference.

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Customers will also have the option to call 1909 and select category either through IVRS or by speaking to the customer care executive.

TRAI also said a separate numbering series 70XXXXXXXX will be allocated for telemarketers, so that all telemarketing calls can be easily identified.

Any call that comes from any number beginning with 70 will be a commercial call and the customer has the choice of receiving or not receiving the call.

TRAI, under this new regulation, has barred all service providers from providing any package that has more provision for sending out more than 100 SMS per day. It has also barred all kind of commercial communication between 9 pm to 9 am.

TRAI has exempted transactional SMS from unsolicited category. Customers will continue to receive transactional messages typically from their banks, insurance companies or telecom service providers giving information relating to their customers’ accounts or from airlines, railways to their passengers regarding flight and train schedules or from educational institutions to the parents.

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