Chandigarh, October 24
Admitting to complete ineffectiveness of the “Do Not Call Registry” to control unauthorised commercial communication, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is now mulling to introduce the concept of “Do Call Registry”.
It is learnt that the authority will shortly come out with a consultation paper on “Do Call Registry”. People will now be allowed to register in areas or segments of their choice like housing, insurance etc., so that telemarketers know whom they can contact. The issue was taken up during a recent meeting of consumer advocacy groups held by TRAI.
This will be a complete shift in the policy as TRAI had earlier come up with a National Do Not Call (NDNC) Registry. As part of this, any subscriber, who does not wish to receive unauthorised commercial communication can register his phone number through his telecom service provider for inclusion in the NDNC through either SMS, website or call centre. Though this came into existence almost two years ago, it has failed to serve the purpose as telemarketers continue to harass subscribers and there seems to be no end to spam on cellphones. The change, if any, has been that spam calls have been replaced by spam voice messages through IVRS and SMSs.
Consumers complain that telemarketers can catch you unawares at any time. Often consumers complain of receiving such annoying calls while in the midst of important business conferences etc., say in London or Bangkok, and then being billed for answering the call on roaming!
Rohit Gupta, a Khanna-based businessman, says he opted for NDNC registry almost a year ago. “Though spam calls from the cellphone operator have stopped, I am still getting unsolicited calls from realtors, banks and insurance agents. It is annoying to receive such calls while on roaming, and being made to pay for receiving these in the name of roaming charges,” he said.
Officials in TRAI said with the implementation of the “Do Call Registry”, at least these telemarketers would know whom to contact for selling their products and services.
