Trai ups ante in war against pesky callers

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has upped the ante against the unsolicited commercial phone calls and SMS menace.

The telecom regulator announced that the telephone connections of banks, insurance firms and real estate companies would be disconnected if the rules against unwanted calls and messages are flouted by them, or on their behalf.

Trai chairman Rahul Khullar said: "Before coming up with this regulation, we have already taken up this with RBI and IRDA. All banking and insurance companies are on notice now. We have given them 15 days time to make corrections in their processes... Trai has resources to thoroughly verify the violator and will take strict action after verification."

The new rules issued by Trai fix the onus of any such misuse on telecom companies as well. This includes a fine of Rs 5,000 per complaint on a telecom company if it is found that the unsolicited commercial call (UCC) or SMS was made by unregistered telemarketers using the telecom company's network.

Khullar said in cases where the UCC contains reference to another telephone number or an entity such as banks, insurance companies or builders for which the commercial transaction has been solicited, the telecom resources issued to the subscriber or entity for which commercial transaction has been solicited, will be disconnected across all service providers.

In association with Mail Today