No unsolicited telemarketing calls, SMSes from today

NEW DELHI: Millions of telecom subscribers in India would finally heave a sigh of relief from Monday when the much-awaited donot-call-registry comes into effect, ensuring that unsolicited telemarketing calls and SMS are blocked. Effective Monday, no telemarketer would be permitted to call those who are registered with the national do not call (NDNC) registry.

This was initiated on June 5 when the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) brought out a mechanism for curbing unwarranted telemarketing calls under the Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications Regulations, 2007. Trai has made it mandatory for telemarketers to register with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), and no service operator can henceforth provide telecom services to unregistered telemarketing companies.

Consumers who do not wish to receive the telemarketing calls can simply enlist their number with their respective operator, and within 45 days the registration would be effective. As per the latest data available with TRAI, over 6.5 million subscribers have so far registered with the NDNC. Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom operator, has received over three million such requests, while Vodafone has got 1.6 million.