From January 1, 2011, mobile subscribers will get relief from unsolicited telemarketing calls and SMS as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday recommended stiff fines and blacklisting of firms that fail to comply with the new guidelines.
Issuing “The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010,” TRAI said defaulting telemarketers would have to pay penalties of up to Rs.2.5 lakh.
A customer can choose to be under the ‘fully blocked' category, which is akin to the ‘Do Not Call Registry,' or the ‘partially blocked' category or ‘Do Call Registry,' in which case he will receive only SMS.
Telemarketers will be issued a new series of numbers starting with ‘70' to help people identify commercial calls. No commercial communication, even for unregistered customers, can be sent between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. TRAI has asked operators not to offer packages containing more than 100 SMSes a day.
