95% mobile users get daily pesky calls mainly from finance, realty: Survey

Vast majority also confirmed receiving calls in the last 12 months despite being registered in the Trai's do not disturb (DND) list

Vast majority of mobile subscribers who took part in a survey have said they receive pesky calls every day with most calls coming for financial services and real estate, online survey firm Localcircles said on Sunday.

According to the survey, 95 per cent mobile subscribers confirmed receiving pesky calls every day with 77 per cent getting three or more such calls daily.

Besides, vast majority confirmed receiving calls in the last 12 months despite being registered in the Trai's do not disturb (DND) list.

As per the survey report, "96 per cent of mobile subscribers surveyed who registered on Do not Disturb (DND) list say they have been getting pesky calls on their number in the last 12 months. Effectiveness of Do Not Disturb (DND) services also reduced as 96 per cent confirmed receiving such calls despite being registered for DND as compared to 90 per cent who said so six months back in the survey done by Localcircles," the survey report said.

As per the survey, 66 per cent of mobile subscribers say they get the majority of the pesky phone calls from different mobile numbers that belong to individuals while 18 per cent say they come from mobile numbers belonging to companies and brands.

The survey received 71,000 responses from citizens in 371 districts of India but the number of responses to each survey question differed.

Almost 88 per cent of 17,380 respondents said in the last 12 months, the highest number of spam phone calls they have received have been from financial services and real estate sectors.

"The percentage of mobile subscribers who have been receiving the most pesky calls from the financial services sector has risen from 54 to 66 per cent in the last 6 months," the report said.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has started review of existing rules to stop pesky calls and SMS.

Trai has asked the industry if a higher tariff should be introduced for calls and SMS-es beyond a certain limit in a graded manner, according to a new discussion paper on measures to tighten norms around telemarketing communications.