Pesky calls: Over 25,000 entities blacklisted, says Kapil Sibal

NEW DELHI: Over 25,000 entities have been blacklisted for making pesky calls and SMSes and they will not get a phone connection for the next two years, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said today.

"A total of about three lakhs telephone connections of un-registered telemarketers have been disconnected by the access service providers and the name and address of 25,295 such subscribers have been put in the blacklist," he said in the Rajya Sabha.

As per Trai guidelines, only registered telemarketers can make promotional or marketing calls and only to those numbers which are not registered with do-not-disturb list.

The registered telemarketers have been allocated special number series, starting with 140 for making commercial calls.

However, consumers get a large number a pesky calls and SMSes from mobile numbers which are not registered telemarketers. As per the data shared by the Minister, 3,76,884 complaints were made till February 14, 2013.

Sibal said if unregistered telemarketers violate regulations their telecom resources, including phone and Internet connections, stand to get disconnected.

"The name and address of the subscriber (unregistered telemarketer) is blacklisted for two years. Once such subscriber is blacklisted, all the telecom resources provided to him by other operators are also disconnected. Further, he will not get any telecom resources from any service provider for two years," the minister said.

The regulations have provisions to impose fines of up to Rs 2.5 lakh on registered telemarketers if they are found flouting norms.

The regulator on Thursday had announced stringent rules under which all telecom connections of an entity or a company referred in pesky calls and SMSes will be disconnected and penalty of Rs 5,000 per complaint will be imposed on telecom operator whose network is used in for such communications.