The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a draft titled “The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Tenth Amendment) Regulations, 2012” taking another step to for curbing SMS Spam (Unsolicited Commercial Communications). Targeting mostly unregistered telemarketers in the proposed draft, TRAI suggests that:
- First time SMS Offender : Rs. 500 fine to any unregistered telecom marketer sending an UCC through SMS for the first time, and Disconnection of telecom service on the second instance.
- First Voice Offence: Warning to any unregistered telecom marketer for sending an UCC through voice for the first time offence, and to be charged Rs. 500 for the second time with a disconnection of telecom services on the third time.
- Customer Complaints: customer may lodge a complaint against UCC by sending an SMS to 1909 in following format: ”short description of Unsolicited Commercial Communication; XXXXXXXXXX; date in dd/mm/yy” discontinuation of telecom resources for a period of one year for offenders whose telecom resources have been disconnected.
- Operations To Warn Customers: TRAI also wants access providers to send an SMS blast twice in a year advising consumers not to send any commercial communications.
- Telemarketing Undertaking: Apart from that, any customers Purchasing a new SIM have to sign an undertaking stating they won’t use the number for telemarketing purpose.
TRAI Draft :
With Inputs from Medianama
- First time SMS Offender : Rs. 500 fine to any unregistered telecom marketer sending an UCC through SMS for the first time, and Disconnection of telecom service on the second instance.
- First Voice Offence: Warning to any unregistered telecom marketer for sending an UCC through voice for the first time offence, and to be charged Rs. 500 for the second time with a disconnection of telecom services on the third time.
- Customer Complaints: customer may lodge a complaint against UCC by sending an SMS to 1909 in following format: ”short description of Unsolicited Commercial Communication; XXXXXXXXXX; date in dd/mm/yy” discontinuation of telecom resources for a period of one year for offenders whose telecom resources have been disconnected.
- Operations To Warn Customers: TRAI also wants access providers to send an SMS blast twice in a year advising consumers not to send any commercial communications.
- Telemarketing Undertaking: Apart from that, any customers Purchasing a new SIM have to sign an undertaking stating they won’t use the number for telemarketing purpose.
TRAI Draft :
With Inputs from Medianama