The government has said that the number of complaints related to pesky calls and SMSes has come down significantly since the implementation of certain norms by TRAI which came into existence from 27.09.2011.

“The problem of Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) has been addressed to a great extent, though complaints are being received, but at a lower scale than before the implementation of the regulations”, said  Milind Deora, Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Friday.

TRAI has laid down the framework for controlling the menace of pesky calls, SMSes through the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR).

He said that prior to the implementation of law on an average 47,454 complaints were received per month (Averaged over the period March, 2010 to March, 2011).  However, the total number of complaints lodged by telecom consumers with their service providers from 27.09.2011 to 15.04.2013 was 5,27,457  (27,760 complaints per month).

The main reason for the unsolicited SMSs were unregistered telemarketers. TRAI has recently prescribed certain measures to be taken by service providers. To prevent unregistered telemarketers from misusing bulk SMS packages or tariff plans, which provide for sending large number of SMSs at nominal charges, a price restraint has been placed on sending of more than one hundred SMS per day per SIM at a concessional rate and a minimum charge of 50 paise has been mandated for SMS sent beyond 100 SMS in a day.

Deora said that with the implementation of these measures, it is expected that the problem of unsolicited commercial SMS will be addressed effectively and satisfactorily.

He said that TRAI has also prescribed penalty against telemarketers for violations of the provisions of the regulations.

“In case of violation by a registered telemarketer, amounts will be deducted from the security deposit of such telemarketer by the Access Provider and such amount will be deposited with TRAI”, he said.

Trai has prescribed the deductions from security deposits of telemarketers which range from Rs.25,000 for the first violation to  2,50,000 for the sixth violation.          
 
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