The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a new set of rules to curb the nuisance of the unregistered telemarketers in India. This is not the first time when the body has announced guidelines to discourage such firms to make unsolicited commercial calls. The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations were first introduced back in 2010 and have now been updated.
These new rules are actually the third amendment to the Regulations and have been introduced because even after taking multiple measures, the problem of pesky calls continue to persist. They not only make random calls to users across the country, but also do not register with the official authorities to avoid paying the fee.
Another reason why these telemarketers do not want to be recognized is so that they are not asked to shell out 5 paise for every promotional text they forward. Cheap SMS packs from service providers have added fuel to the fire and these offers encourage them to send more and more messages without worrying about the cost.
According to the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Thirteenth Amendment) Regulations, 2013, a service provider will have to pay a fine of Rs 5000 if TRAI finds out that an unregistered caller is using its network. Every month, telecom companies will have to give a list of bulk connections activated during the month.
If a reference to banks, insurance companies, builders or other such entities is made during an unsolicited commercial call, these organizations will be issued a couple of notices for every complain. If they do not act up on it, all of their telecom resources, regardless of the service provider they use, will be disconnected.
These regulations put forth by TRAI have already come into effect.