Soon, an SMS scrubber app for marketers

With mobile spam on the rise, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has issued new guidelines to protect India’s 750 million mobile phone users. According to the guidelines, Trai updates the National Consumer Preference Registry (NCPR) twice a week. Telemarketing companies are also required to update their databases twice a week to ensure that all outbound messages and calls are vetted against the database.

Trai has made it mandatory for mobile operators to do a second-level check to ensure mobile consumers are not spammed. Telecom operators, telemarketers, outbound call centres and SMS aggregators now have to comply with the guidelines in order to run any voice or data campaigns and promotional activities. The new guidelines would also ensure that fines are imposed on carriers and telemarketers not complying with the norms.

Scrubber, an app launched by SMS GupShup, has been tested on its monthly volume of over three billion messages, as well as on multiple network operator locations. The app enables both large and small telecom companies to ‘scrub’ mobile and landline numbers and classify them under Trai's new guidelines.

“The Scrubber would download data twice a week directly from Trai. Based on the date of a user's database submission, the scrubbed data would be the most recent, according to Trai records. The Scrubber eliminates significant risks for most companies in the mobile ecosystem,” says SMS GupShup. The scrubbing service can be integrated with voice, data and SMS messaging systems.

Viswanath Ramachandran, chief technology officer, SMS GupShup, says, “Marketers would now be able to target mobile users more effectively, and communicate with only those who are interested in receiving their communications, providing an end to mobile spam.”