TRAI wants 5-paise levy on commercial SMS; do not call regime in force
28 Sep 2011
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The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) plans to impose a 5-paise termination charge for every commercial SMS sent by an operator, even as the much-awaited unsolicited commercial calls regime came into force in the country.
''We are actively considering and we are likely to issue a regulation by October 15 to impose five paise termination charge on commercial SMS, and not on general SMS,'' TRAI Chairman J S Sarma said at an event in New Delhi.
The 5-paise termination charge is part of the new TRAI regulations to stop unsolicited commercial calls and messages, and would be billed to the operator from whose network the message originated.
At present, operators levy termination charges of about 10-15 paise, varying from operator to operator, per SMS on mutual agreements. TRAI had earlier examined the need for interconnect usage charges (IUC) for SMSs, but shelved it fearing it might lead to a rise in tariffs.
Separately, the telecom ministry launched `Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulation', an attempt to put an end to pesky calls and SMSes.
''All those subscribers who have registered with the National Customer Preference Registry (NCPR), earlier known as ''Do Not Call Registry'', would get relief from all commercial communications,'' Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said.
The subscribers opting out of telemarketing SMS and calls will have to register with the NCPR. According to TRAI, about 130 million mobile users - of the total subscriber base of over 890 million - have already registered with NCPR.
A subscriber can send a message STOP to 1909 to de-register or START 0 to fully register with Do Not Call (DND) registry. To continue receiving messages under certain categories, a user will have to register with DND.
Subscribers have to option to choose between 'fully blocked' and 'Partially Blocked' categories.
No commercial communication, even for unregistered customers, will be sent between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has allocated a `140' to telemarketeers to help in identifying commercial calls.
The new TRAI regulations restricts the number of SMS to 100 per day for pre-paid and 3,000 a month for post-paid users. The restrictions will not be applicable on special days, like during festival times.
However, messages from banks and insurance firms or telecom operators providing information on customers' accounts, and from airlines and railways on travel schedules among others are exempted, according to a statement posted on the TRAI website.
Dealers of telecom operators, DTH players, e-ticketing agencies, social networking and microblogging sites like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, LinkedIn and GooglePlus and directory services such as Justdial and Askme are also exempted.
The penalty for telemarketing firms or operators flouting the rules has been increased to Rs 2.5 lakh from the earlier proposed about Rs 500-1,000.
''We are actively considering and we are likely to issue a regulation by October 15 to impose five paise termination charge on commercial SMS, and not on general SMS,'' TRAI Chairman J S Sarma said at an event in New Delhi.
The 5-paise termination charge is part of the new TRAI regulations to stop unsolicited commercial calls and messages, and would be billed to the operator from whose network the message originated.
At present, operators levy termination charges of about 10-15 paise, varying from operator to operator, per SMS on mutual agreements. TRAI had earlier examined the need for interconnect usage charges (IUC) for SMSs, but shelved it fearing it might lead to a rise in tariffs.
Separately, the telecom ministry launched `Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulation', an attempt to put an end to pesky calls and SMSes.
''All those subscribers who have registered with the National Customer Preference Registry (NCPR), earlier known as ''Do Not Call Registry'', would get relief from all commercial communications,'' Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said.
The subscribers opting out of telemarketing SMS and calls will have to register with the NCPR. According to TRAI, about 130 million mobile users - of the total subscriber base of over 890 million - have already registered with NCPR.
A subscriber can send a message STOP to 1909 to de-register or START 0 to fully register with Do Not Call (DND) registry. To continue receiving messages under certain categories, a user will have to register with DND.
Subscribers have to option to choose between 'fully blocked' and 'Partially Blocked' categories.
No commercial communication, even for unregistered customers, will be sent between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has allocated a `140' to telemarketeers to help in identifying commercial calls.
The new TRAI regulations restricts the number of SMS to 100 per day for pre-paid and 3,000 a month for post-paid users. The restrictions will not be applicable on special days, like during festival times.
However, messages from banks and insurance firms or telecom operators providing information on customers' accounts, and from airlines and railways on travel schedules among others are exempted, according to a statement posted on the TRAI website.
Dealers of telecom operators, DTH players, e-ticketing agencies, social networking and microblogging sites like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, LinkedIn and GooglePlus and directory services such as Justdial and Askme are also exempted.
The penalty for telemarketing firms or operators flouting the rules has been increased to Rs 2.5 lakh from the earlier proposed about Rs 500-1,000.
