Pesky habit: Lesser spam, fewer wishes

For most mobile users Trai’s decision to block telemarketing calls has come as a respite, but for others it’s a damper.

The telecom regulatory authority of India’s (Trai’s) decision to limit the number of SMSes per user per day to 100 gives us some respite from unwanted messages. However, it would also restrict individuals, who are heavy users of the service, especially during the festive season.

Anil Patrick, a Mumbai resident, has to curb his enthusiasm while wishing his friends and family this Dusshera and Diwali. “I will not be able to send Happy Diwali wishes to even half of my contacts,” says Patrick, who used to send SMSes to the 400 contacts on his mobile phone during the festivities. The new tele-marketing norms came into effect last week.

The restriction is playing on the minds of the section of mobile subscribers who are in the habit of sending numerous festive wishes. Jayshree Bhutoria, a homemaker from Kolkata, laments: “For me, text messages were the cheapest and easiest way to stay connected socially because I do not use Facebook or any other social media platform.”

REGISTERING & SWITCHING TELEMARKETING PREFERENCES
(VIA A VOICE CALL)

1. Dial the toll-free number ‘1909’ from your mobile  

2. You will be prompted with options to register, de-register or change existing preferences

3. If you choose to register or change registered preferences, you will be informed about various categories and the options of either blocking or partial blocking updates

4. In case, you opt for the fully-blocked option, the request will be saved as your Preference Register

5. If you opt for the partially-blocked option (access to certain updates such as travel, banking websites and so on), you will be provided with options to select from seven pre-defined categories. Once you select your category, a customer-care executive will confirm the preference that will be saved as your preferred choice

6. The changes requested will be sent to you through an SMS alert quoting your unique registration number

Hari K Shahji, a grocery retailer in Mahim, had been using SMSes to keep his 350-odd customers (mostly expatriates) updated about new imported spices and exotic Asian ingredients that his shop is famous for. He reasons: “If I cannot send more than 100 SMSes a day, how will I reach out to my customers? This will directly impact my business, since most imported ingredients have a limited shelf-life and they need to be sold off quickly.”

The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulation is meant to give relief from pesky commercial calls and messages and is an upgraded version of the National Do Not Call (NDNC) service launched earlier. About 135 million mobile phone owners have signed up for the “Do Not Call” service, introduced in 2007 that prohibits telemarketers from making cold calls.

Professor P J Mathew Martin, a diploma course co-ordinator at the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, too is not in favour of the new norm, but for a different reason. “For the deaf, SMSes have emerged as the preferred mode of communication since an SMS allows 160 characters while a one-minute conversation has around 200-300 words. It is more efficient for the deaf to exchange SMSes in order to conduct normal conversations in their day-to-day life.”

However, for the bulk of the 860 million mobile subscribers in India, the move comes as a huge relief. On an average, a mobile subscriber would get around 20 spam texts with promotions and other offers everyday, before the norms came into effect.

To activate the service and block all categories users need to send an SMS START 0 to 1909. To subscribe to certain categories, while blocking others, users need to replace 0 with the category code.

The Department of Telecommunications has also made it mandatory for all telemarketing companies to use the number series starting with “140” to cal mobile users to help consumers identify a telemarketing call. If telemarketers flout the rules a fine of Rs 25,000 will be imposed for six such offences, then the registration of the tele-marketer will be cancelled.

The move has cheered users like Malini Jain, a marketing executive with a leading FMCG company. “I am glad that Trai has put a stop on such calls and SMSes. Earlier, I used to get calls when I was in important meetings and even while on roaming. Worse still, I was charged for receiving spams.”

Users like Patrick are a minority. “Not all marketing communication is bothersome,” he reasons, adding he does not wish to lose out on the chance of getting good bargains and rewards through updates from e-commerce sites like Flipkart.com. “I don’t want to be in a situation in which I could have enjoyed reward points from a loyalty programme of a trusted airline simply because I was not updated.”