Mobile phone users may soon get relief from pesky text messages after sector regulator Trai on Monday issued a diktat to mobile phone companies to allow only 100 text messages a day for every connection at concessional rates. Trai directed operators to implement its orders within 15 days and warned that it would adopt a 'zero tolerance' policy towards unregistered telemarketers that send millions of unsolicited messages, selling everything from slimming solutions to real estate.
The regulator also said that telcos must charge a minimum of 50 paise for every message sent beyond the prescribed limit.
These mark the first steps taken by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to counter the growing menace which was being caused primarily by unregistered telemarketers that are much higher in number compared to 2,771 telemarketers registered with the regulator. The regulator's principal adviser and incharge of consumer affairs N Parameswaran said unregistered telemarketers were using discount vouchers or packs that offered tariffs as low as 1 paise per message or less, to bombard consumers with text messages.
"It is going to be a zero tolerance area for the authority. The menace of pesky SMS will be controlled. This is the first step, more will follow," he said and added that the objective of the new directives was to control unregistered telemarketers, disincentivise or discourage them from sending commercial messages. "We want the unregistered ones to get registered and follow the rules of the game," Parameswaram added.
Telecom minister Kapil Sibal had rued last week that he was, like all common consumers, troubled with pesky messages. "I also face lot of problem. Every two minutes I get such SMS. People...used international servers (to send such SMSes), but that also has been stopped," he had said.
Machines programmed to send out up to 5,000 SMSes a second are being used to push promotional messages to more than 900 million mobile users.
Relief from pesky messages: TRAI caps cheaper SMSes at 100 a day - The Economic Times
The regulator also said that telcos must charge a minimum of 50 paise for every message sent beyond the prescribed limit.
These mark the first steps taken by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to counter the growing menace which was being caused primarily by unregistered telemarketers that are much higher in number compared to 2,771 telemarketers registered with the regulator. The regulator's principal adviser and incharge of consumer affairs N Parameswaran said unregistered telemarketers were using discount vouchers or packs that offered tariffs as low as 1 paise per message or less, to bombard consumers with text messages.
"It is going to be a zero tolerance area for the authority. The menace of pesky SMS will be controlled. This is the first step, more will follow," he said and added that the objective of the new directives was to control unregistered telemarketers, disincentivise or discourage them from sending commercial messages. "We want the unregistered ones to get registered and follow the rules of the game," Parameswaram added.
Telecom minister Kapil Sibal had rued last week that he was, like all common consumers, troubled with pesky messages. "I also face lot of problem. Every two minutes I get such SMS. People...used international servers (to send such SMSes), but that also has been stopped," he had said.
Machines programmed to send out up to 5,000 SMSes a second are being used to push promotional messages to more than 900 million mobile users.
Relief from pesky messages: TRAI caps cheaper SMSes at 100 a day - The Economic Times
