New
Delhi: Don't want to be
annoyed by unwanted commercial calls and SMSs? Here's all that you should know
about Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) new regulations to give
your mobile phone a little rest.
The new guidelines
set by TRAI was supposed to be effective on February 1, 2011. After numerous
delays the consumer facing regulations of The Telecom Commercial Communications
Customer Preference Regulations will finally roll into effect on September 27,
2011.
A new set of
guidelines became necessary due to the limited success of TRAI's earlier
initiatives. The National Do Not Call Registry was somewhat effective in
reducing the number of unsolicited calls but indirectly led to an increase in
the number of unsolicited SMSs landing in consumers'
inboxes.
Under the new
guidelines consumers can choose their preference to receive or not to receive
commercial communication from seven pre-defined categories. Commercial
communications, other than transactional messages can only be sent to a consumer
between 9 AM and 9 PM. Users also have the option to either block all commercial
calls and SMSs or to block only commercial calls while receiving SMSs of their
choice.
Consumers have two
choices, they can register in one of the two categories:
1. Fully blocked
category: Consumers will not receive any commercial communication on their
phones either as voice calls or SMSs.
2. Partially blocked
category: Consumer will not receive any voice calls, but can choose to receive
SMSs on any or some or all from seven pre-defined subjects:
a.
Banking/insurance/financial products/credit cards
b. Real estate
c. Education
d. Health
e. Consumer goods
and automobiles
f.
Communication/broadcasting/entertainment/IT
g. Tourism and
leisure
For users already
registered with the National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC) do not have to
re-register, their registration will automatically continue under the 'fully
blocked' category.
The request for
registration on the National Customer Preference Register (NCPR) will effective
in seven days from the date of request for registration.
There are no charges
involved in the registration, re-registration or change in registration process.
How
to register
There are four ways
to activate your choice:
1. Via SMS sent to
1909
2. Dial 1909 and
register through IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System)
3. Dial 1909 and
register with the help of a customer care executive
4. Through the
websites of mobile service providers
Registration
via SMS
To opt for the fully
blocked category, send SMS "START 0" to 1909.
To opt for the
partially blocked category, send SMS "Start [option]" to 1909. The options are
explained:
- "START 1" for
receiving SMS relating to banking/insurance/financial products/credit cards
- "START 2" for
receiving SMS relating to real estate
- "START 3" for
receiving SMS relating to education
- "START 4" for
receiving SMS relating to health
- "START 5" for
receiving SMS relating to consumer goods and automobiles
- "START 6" for
receiving SMS relating to communication/broadcasting/entertainment/IT
- "START 7" for
receiving SMS relating to tourism and leisure
To opt for multiple
preferences from the categories send SMS "Start [option1, option2, option3,...]"
to 1909. For example, for receiving commercial SMSs from
banking/insurance/financial products/credit cards and real estate, send the SMS
as "START 1, 2".
In case a preference
"0" is mentioned in the SMS, it will override other preferences and will be
treated as 'fully blocked.' For example, "START 0,1,7", will be considered as a
fully blocked option.
On sending the SMS,
users will receive a confirmation SMS and need to reply to the message to ensure
the options chosen are implemented.
On receiving the
confirmation SMS from the subscriber, the service provider will send another SMS
indicating the user's preferences along with a unique registration number. It is
advisable to save the unique registration number as this will serve as a
reference for the subscriber's registration of preference.
Registration
via IVRS
Consumers can call
the toll-free number 1909 and then follow the instructions to indicate their
choice of blocked voice calls and SMSs. On successful competition of the IVRS
process the consumer will receive a confirmation SMS that also mentions the
consumer's unique registration number.
Registration
through customer care executive
Consumers can call
the toll-free number 1909 and speak to a customer care executive to indicate
their preferences. The consumer will receive a confirmation SMS along with their
unique registration number.
Registration
via service provider websites
Users can also log
in to their respective access providers' websites to register their preferences.
List of mobile
service providers' websites:
How
to change preferences
Consumers can change
their preferences after seven days of the date of registration or seven days
after the last change of request. This can be done through any of the four
methods described above, i.e., SMS, IVRS, customer care executive or online.
For changing
preferences through SMS consumers will have to SMS "START [option]" to 1909 to
receive communication on a certain category or "STOP [option]" to stop receiving
messages from the indicated category. In case a consumers want to fully block
all categories they can SMS "START 0" to 1909.
Users can
alternately change their preferences via IVRS or speaking to a customer care
executive by dialling 1909 or by visiting the mobile service providers'
websites. On successful completion a confirmation SMS will be sent.
How
to de-register
Consumers can opt
out of the service through SMS by sending "STOP" to 1909. They can also call
1909 to de-register through IVRS or by speaking to the customer care executive.
How
to register a complaint
If a consumers
receives unsolicited commercial communication even after seven days of
registering with the NCPR they can file a complaint either by SMS or dialing the
toll-free number 1909.
To register a
complaint via SMS a message in the format "COMP TEL NO XXXXXXXXXX, dd/mm/yy,
Time hh:mm" to 1909, where "XXXXXXXXXX" is the telephone number or the ID from
which the SMS was sent from and also mentioning the date and time when the
unsolicited communication was received.
On submission of the
complaint the user will be sent a unique complaint number through SMS and will
be informed of the action taken on the complaint within seven days of the
complaint booking.
The
100 SMS limit
TRAI has set a limit
of 100 SMSs per SIM per day and not more than 3000 SMSs per post-paid number.
But TRAI has said that it will exempt certain categories of SMSs from the limit,
that could include festivals and other celebratory occasions. Telecom operators'
lobby COAI asked the regulator to reconsider its recommendation to limit the
number of SMSs per SIM to 100 per day, saying that such a regulation may pose a
potential challenge to the "fundamental rights" of an ordinary subscriber. But
TRAI says there is no plan to do away the restriction.
How
to identify the source and type of a commercial text
message
For sending the
promotional messages, the telemarketers shall use alphanumeric identifier in the
format XY-RZZZZZ where X stands for code allotted to Access provider, Y stands
for service area, as specified by TRAI from time to time and R being any digit
from 0 to 7, where 0 indicates that the SMS is commercial communication but does
not belong to any preference specified, 1-7 indicates the preference specified
by TRAI (1. Banking/Insurance/Financial products/credit cards, 2. Real Estate,
3. Education, 4. Health, 5. Consumer goods and automobiles, 6.
Communication/Broadcasting/Entertainment/IT and 7. Tourism and leisure) and
ZZZZZ indicates five digit unique identification code allotted to telemarketer
by the access provider.
Also messages from a
telemarketer shall be from the number series '140'.