Trai to meet telcos for stopping unsolicited calls

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today said it will meet mobile services operators over the next few days to discuss and find a solution to the menace of unsolicited commercial calls and bulk messages.

"We had a meeting with two service operators today, out of which one of the providers has assured us that they will not send bulk messages. We will meet other operators over the course of next few days... And will work out a solution," Trai Chairman J S Sarma told reporters here.

The reaction comes in the wake of Telecom Minister A Raja ordering action to stop unsolicited calls by telemarketing companies immediately.

The issue resurfaced after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee received a call from a telemarketer when he was in an important meeting with Opposition parties.

Trai had already floated a consultation paper on curbing such commercial calls and messages in May this year.

"Trai has already given out a consultation paper on the subject in May and we have already received comments... Very soon, we will be able to come out with a regulation on this," Sarma said.

The current regulations permit the telemarketers to make calls to subscribers who have not registered their numbers with the National Do-Not-Call (NDNC) Registry for not receiving unsolicited calls or text messages.

Even then, subscribers registered with the NDNC Registry continue to be harassed by such calls. Now, the authority is mulling a 'Do Call Registry' to replace the NDNC.

"Do call registry is one of the options definitely and there are other suggestions. Let us look at all of them and see what is the most effective solution. It is more important that customers should not be bothered with the unsolicited commercial calls or messages," Sarma added.

Asked about the security issue surrounding Blackberry services, Sarma said, "The issue of encrypted data is already being looked into by the Department of Telecommunications and the Home Ministry... If the government wants, then we will look into the matter."

Talking about 2G spectrum pricing, Sarma said Trai will come up with its revised recommendations "during this month."