Trai suggests NIC to handle unwanted telemarketing calls

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has proposed that the National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC) suggested by it to curb unwanted telemarketing calls should be implemented through the National Informatics Centre.

Minister of state for communications and information technology Dr. Shakeel Ahmad said that the Trai proposal had been made in a draft regulation on 23 April on the basis of stakeholders‘ responses to a consultation process for finding a solution to restrict unsolicited commercial communication to subscribers who do not want such calls, internal discussions and international practices.

Dr Ahmad said keeping the concerns of their consumers in mind, mobile service providers have already introduced a “Do not Disturb” facility for subscribers who do not wish to receive information on product and services of their mobile service provider. TRAI has advised the mobile subscribers through advertisements in leading newspapers to use this facility.

While announcing the NDNC, TRAI had said it would declare this effective only after some of the specific provisions not strictly in the domain of TRAI get clearance from the
Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India. It suggested the Registry will be a national database containing telephone numbers of the subscribers who have opted not to receive Unwanted Commercial Calls (UCC.)

In its Regulation, the Authority has mandated the telecom service providers to set up a mechanism to receive requests from subscribers who do not want to receive UCC. The service providers will maintain a Private Do Not Call List, which will include telephone numbers and other details of all such subscribers.

The expenditure for setting up and maintenance of the NDNC Registry will be borne by the Authority.

As a majority of the telemarketers are being employed by the Banking Sector, the Authority has also approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks‘ Association (IBA) to ensure that no telemarketers are engaged by the Banking Sector without valid registration certificate issued from DoT and also all the telemarketers presently engaged by the banks should register themselves with DoT as OSPs within three months.

The Authority said cooperation from all stakeholders including DoT, RBI, IBA, Telecom Service Providers, Telemarketers and the subscribers was required.

This Regulation can only become effective after the DoT recognises NIC as the agency to set up and maintain the NDNC and also implement the proposed modifications in the license conditions of the Telecom Service Providers and in the guidelines for Other Service Providers.