Next time you get a pesky call from a telecom operator selling their credit cards, loans or any miscellaneous products and if you are on the ‘Do Not Disturb’ list, a fine will be imposed on that particular telecom company for allowing such unsolicited calls. TRAI has issued this new rule for all telemarketing companies.
The service providers will have to pay a fine of Rs. 5000 for the first call and Rs. 20,000 for every other unsolicited call made by the company.
All that a subscriber needs to do is register under the ‘Do not disturb’ list and within 15 days, the unsolicited calls are expected to stop and even if they continue TRAI has got a fix for it.
The other side of the story is that telecom companies have come together to protest against the fines as they feel that they cannot be held responsible for calls made by telemarketers and have a view that there should be some other measures to control the telemarketers and the unauthorized institutions.
The debate over the matter is still going on and TRAI and the mobile service providers are yet to come to a conclusion but subscribers can heave a sigh of relief that there is definitely going to be some strong action that will be taken to curb the menace.