In last 2 years, TRAI has made several amendments in the regulations to curb the menace of Spam SMSes or Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) to mobile subscribers.
Some of the measures TRAI took t stop pesky SMSes included stopping SMSes through international gateways, DND Implementation, putting a ceiling on the limit of SMSes sent in day, signature verification of Bulk SMSes, strengthening consumer complaint redressal process & many others.
Even after these stringent measures, UCCs are being relayed to customers and TRAI still receives most complaints from mobile subscribers in regards to them.
Telemarketers have found new ways to circumvent these measures by not registering as telemarketers with TRAI. They use bulk SMS packs and send it as normal subscribers. Due this they are able to reach out to those customers who have registered themselves with National Customer Preference Register (NCPR).
TRAI is of the opinion that service providers are actually encouraging these tele-marketers by providing attractive bulk SMS packages. So, they have now further amended the regulations to penalize telecom operators through whom these UCCs are sent.
Features of New Regulation Amendments
- Telecom Operator will have to pay a fine of Rs. 5000 for every Spam SMS complaint registered by mobile subscriber. The UCC will be verified to see if it has come from non-registered telemarketer.
- Telecom Operator will now have to submit (by 15th of every month) to TRAI the list of all bulk connections provided during the preceding month.
- If the Spam SMS contains reference to another telephone number or entity for which the commercial transaction has been solicited, those subscribers / entities will face full disconnection of services after serving notices each on the first and the second complaint.
There is absolutely no doubt that menace of Spam SMSes has come down everytime new amendments curbing them are added to regulation. Penalizing the telecom operator itself will now be a huge deterrent to the operator and every complaint received has a huge fine attached to it!
I hope that with this change, we can finally say Spam messages a final good-bye!
IDEA has flashed Lucky draw “20 lakhs Gold offer” for dialing 55256 Toll free. During the Call, it did not prompts about the commercials of Rs 2/- per Answer. Later IDEA has sent me the SMS about the notification for charging Rs 2/- per answer. This is complete MISLEADING and UNFAIR Practise being used by IDEA.
Complaint Reference number E1-35136985028 opened is closed without any reply. It is called as CHEATING and Misappropriate representation of the campaign. This is UNFAIR Practice executed by the IDEA Mobile.
I raised complaint to IDEA Appelliate stating that system did not conveyed me on the call that each answer will be charged with Rs 2/- while I dialed 55256. You are collecting the money by misleading the customers. You have CHEATED me by tempting me to dial 55256. This is a National Waste and Misrepresentation, which I will really highlight to the senior Authorities.
Who is the responsible authority to raise such SPAMS to the TRAI. Is there any Email ID to communicate.
Service providers have some formats of sms to send to 1909 for registering UCC complaints. But its very inconvenient to type that manually in sms and prone to error. Since this is automated process, any error in typing sms and your complaint will be rejected.
I use the app “India Against Spam” on android. This app creates the sms for you based on the spammy call or sms you select to complaint about. Its a simple and very convenient app for me.
Till date, I have filed more than 30-40 complaints and got many numbers blocked :)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.deepakj.smspam
How do you make a SPAM SMS complaint?
But how does one lodge a complaint… did try create a simplified process for that?