Lok Sabha Question No. 5146 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-04-05
Subject: Unsolicited SMSs
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: C.S. PUTTARAJU

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.5146 TO BE ANSWERED ON 5 TH   APRIL, 2017

## UNSOLICITED SMSs

## 5146. SHRI C.S. PUTTA RAJU:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has taken cognizance of the problems being caused by the large number of unsolicited SMSs sent on mobile phones; and
- (b) if  so,  the  details thereof and the action taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) & (b) Madam, the Government has taken cognizance of the problems being caused by the large number of unsolicited SMSs sent on mobile phones. For addressing the menace of  Unsolicited  Commercial  Communications  (UCC),  Telecom  Regulatory  Authority  of  India (TRAI) has laid down a regulatory framework through the 'Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010' which came in to force with effect from  27.09.2011.  These  regulations  have  been  reviewed  from  time  to  time  and  TRAI  has issued  Sixteen  Amendments  to  these  regulations  to  make  the  regulatory  framework  more effective and stringent.

The main features of the framework are:

-  Establishment  of  National  Customer  Preference  Register  (NCPR)  by  TRAI  for registering the request of customers for not receiving UCC.
-  Registration of Telemarketers by TRAI.
-  Scrubbing  of  NCPR  data  by  the  telemarketer  and  service  provider  before  sending SMS.
-  Separate provisions for Transactional and Promotional messages.
-  Implementation of signature solution by service providers for blocking UCC SMS.
-  Entities / persons on whose behalf UCC is solicited have also been made responsible for the action of their agents. Their telecom resources will also be disconnected after second notice is issued on the basis of complaints.
-  Blocking of UCC messages through international route.

-  A  graded  system  of  penalty  on  registered  telemarketers  for  violations of the regulations  by  way  of  recovery  from  the  security  deposit  by  service  providers  and depositing the same with TRAI.
-  After  six  violations,  the  telemarketer  is  blacklisted  for  a  period  of  two  years  and  all telecom resources throughout India are disconnected.
-  The telemarketer name is not removed from the blacklisting before a period of two years.
-  To discourage unregistered telemarketers from sending UCC, the regulations provide for disconnection of telephone on first complaint and blacklisting name and address of the  unregistered  telemarketers  for  a  period  of  two  years,  upon  blacklisting  all  the telecom  resources  will  be  disconnected  and  no  new  telephone  connection  can  be taken by him for a period of two years.
-  To  prevent  unregistered  telemarketers  from  misusing  concessional  SMS  packs  or tariff  plans for sending bulk promotional SMSs, a price restraint has been placed on sending of more than one hundred SMS per day per SIM at a concessional rate. The subscriber is free to send SMSs beyond this number, however, all such SMSs sent beyond one hundred SMS per day per SIM shall be charged at a rate not lower than Rs 0.50p per SMS.

The above steps have been effective in controlling UCC to a very large extent.

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