Do Not Disturb Registry

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is the Indian governmental agency tasked with defining various policies and regulations for wireless communication service providers in India. As per TRAI regulation, every mobile service provider in India is required to set up a Do Not Disturb (DND) registry. The official name for the registry is 'National Do Not Call Registry'. In practice, various service providers refer to it as 'Do not disturb registry'. The National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC) has been renamed National Customer Preference Register (NCPR). The Telemarketers after registration from TRAI get permission to access the National Customer Preference Register (NCPR).

The customer preference portal ^[1] on TRAI website details the official rules regarding registry setup and the procedure for registering on the 'do not disturb' registry. Actual administration of the registry is NOT done by TRAI, neither via this portal nor anywhere else. The administration is left to individual service providers.

Introduction

The Indian telecom Industry with nearly 900 million subscribers is the second largest wireless market in the world. Low tariffs and direct reach to consumers has made SMS and direct calling one of the most cost effective ways of selling services and products. However, telemarketing has brought with it serious issues of invasion of privacy and has become a major irritant to customers.

To holistically curb this growing menace and effectively regulate unsolicited commercial Calls and messages, TRAI has notified "The Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations, 2010". All the provisions of regulations come into force from 27th September, 2011.

The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Portal is a data base containing a variety of information prescribed in "The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010".

Amendments

1. Telecom customers are aggrieved with Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCCs) in the form of SMSs or voice calls to promote commercial activity for quite a long time. In 2009-10, TRAI reviewed the regulatory framework for controlling UCCs and, on 1st December 2010, issued “The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010”. These regulations have provision for mandatory registration of telemarketers with TRAI after payment of a one-time fee of Rs 10,000/-. These regulations also provided that before taking the telecom resources from service provider, a telemarketer has to deposit initially an amount Rs. 1,00,000/- with service provider as security deposit.

2. The aforesaid provisions were made in the regulations with the aim that if all telemarketers registered themselves with the Authority and the consumers electing not to receive promotional commercial messages register themselves in NCPR, the menace of UCCs would be controlled. However, subsequent events proved otherwise. Though some did register as telemarketers, many others chose to continue operating as telemarketers without registering themselves as such. That is, most of those sending UCCs, operated beyond the pale of TRAI’s regulations; they obtained multiple SIMs as “normal subscribers” and made calls or sent out messages (SMSs) in bulk as UCCs to other telecom subscribers.

3. The UCC menace persisted leading consumers to complain about the number of UCCs being received. At various points of time, the Authority has responded to consumers’ concerns by intervening through Regulations and Directions to curb the problem. The significant measures taken includes Stopping UCCs sent through international routes, [Providing a ceiling on the number of SMSs per SIM per day,]Economic deterrent to sending more than 100 SMSs per SIM per day, Mandating signature verification of bulk SMSs, Enhancing consumer awareness and obtaining an undertaking from subscribers against sending commercial SMSs, Making it easy for consumers to file a complaint, Disconnection and blacklisting of subscribers who do telemarketing without registering themselves with TRAI etc.

4. While the Authority’s regulatory interventions have tempered the menace of UCCs, it has not altogether abated. The problem is that UCCs (SMSs or calls) from persons not registered as telemarketers continue to irritate and harass normal subscribers. Such individuals deliberately masquerade themselves as “normal subscribers” even though their primary purpose for obtaining telecom resources is for telemarketing activities.

5. The Authority has noticed with concern that a large number of complaints received from consumers pertain to calls or messages originated by or on behalf of banks, insurance companies, builders etc. who are promoting their business by engaging unregistered telemarketers in total disregard of the regulations made by the Authority. These organisations, being the principal are equally responsible for the non-compliance of the regulations and directions issued by the Authority to address the problem of UCC. Hence, in order to make these entities accountable, the Authority has decided to amend the regulations (13th Amendment) to provide for disconnection of all telecom resources of such organisations if they are found to be engaged in telemarketing through unregistered telemarketers.

6. Authority has noticed that after implementation of The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Thirteenth Amendment) Regulations, 2013 majority of complaints pertaining to entities such as banks, insurance, builders etc. are against those subscribers who were not registered as telemarketers and were making the UCC through their normal 10 digit mobile numbers. Authority has asked all the major erring banks to submit their action taken report in respect of complaint. In response, some of the major banks have submitted that there are small dealers/ agents,in their business model, who do not have much incentive to afford the initial security deposit of Rs. 1,00,000/- with service providers for working as a telemarketer. Although, banks assured that they have mandated the condition of registration as telemarketer with TRAI is compulsory for becoming the dealers/ agents of bank, however, they also requested to reduce the registration charges and initial security deposit for becoming a telemarketer to motivate and provide the opportunity to these small agents/ dealers to do the business in a legitimate manner.

7. Authority has also observed that one of the primary reason for non-registering as telemarketer by such agents/ agencies is saving in cost of registration and initial security deposit. Therefore, Authority considered the request and is of the view that unsolicited commercial communication may be significantly reduced if majority of these unregistered callers are registered as telemarketer with TRAI and use the prescribed telemarketing resources for making the commercial calls/ SMS. Accordingly, to facilitate and to motivate these agencies/ agents to register themselves with TRAI, the Authority reviewed the registration period, registration fee and initial security deposit amount through these regulations.

External links

DNC Scrubbing Software - Free Tool for Telemarking companies to Scrub against the TRAI DNC Registry.