Govt should impose bulk SMSes termination fee: Bharti

Bharti Airtel today said the government should impose a termination charge on bulk messages and also penalise the erring tele marketing firms to stop them from making unsolicited calls to subscribers.

"There should be a termination charge for bulk SMSes and a penalty should be imposed on tele marketing firms," Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor said while condemning the menace.

Termination charge is the fee that a telecom firm pays to the other one for completing its calls or messages on the latter's network. Most of the telecom firms, including Airtel, Tatas and Aircel, sell bulk SMSes and air time to telemarketing firms.

Bharti's reaction comes in the wake of Telecom Minister A Raja ordering action to immediately stop unsolicited calls from tele marketing companies.

He further said the relevant data is available and it should not be difficult to find out which are the players, who are offering bulk messaging facilities violating the rules and regulations.

Kapoor favoured penalising companies, which do not follow 'Do Not Call' registry in letter and spirit.