TRAI orders disconnection of pesky telemarketers’ services
27 May 2013
In yet another effort to curb the nuisance of unsolicited commercial calls (UCC), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has issued a directive to service providers to disconnect all telecom services, including phones and internet connections, of the persons or the companies from where the pesky marketing calls originate.
The names and addresses of offenders will be entered into a blacklist and no telecom resources would be allotted to them for a period of two years, TRAI member R K Arnold told reporters in New Delhi on Saturday.
Amending the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations 2013, TRAI said in case of a valid complaint, the telecom operator shall disconnect all the telecom resources allotted to such subscriber after due investigation.
This provision comes into force with immediate effect.
"The moment a complaint is received by a service provider from a customer ... it will immediately investigate into that complaint and if it finds the communication unsolicited, the regulations provides for immediate disconnection of that resource," Arnold said.
According to a TRAI official, the new regulation is mainly to stop UCCs from unregistered telemarketers, as registered ones generally follow the TRAI regulations,'' said a TRAI official.
Between 27 September 2011 and 15 April 2013, as many as 527,457 UCC complaints were registered, at an average of 27,760 complaints per month, according to the department of telecommunications (DoT).
