Lok Sabha Question No. 2598 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-08-07
Subject: Know Your Mobile Connections Scheme
Ministry: COMMUNICATION
Asked by: Shri Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2598 TO BE ANSWERED ON 7 TH  AUGUST, 2024

## KNOW YOUR MOBILE CONNECTIONS SCHEME

## 2598   SHRI GURMEET SINGH MEET HAYER:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATION be pleased to state:

(a) the current status of the implementation of the Do Not Disturb (DND) service and 'Know Your Mobile Connections' scheme;

- (b) the steps taken by the Government to ensure their effective operation; and

(c) the manner in which the Government addresses and penalises violations of DND regulations by telemarketers and other entities?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR)

(a) & (b) The 'Know Your Mobile Connections' facility available on  Sanchar Saathi portal (https://sancharsaathi.gov.in)  allows a citizen to know the mobile connections issued in his name. Out  of  the  mobile  numbers  displayed,  a  citizen  can  report  any  mobile  number  under  'Not  My Number' or 'Not Required' category. Such reported mobile numbers undergo re-verification by the telecom service providers (TSPs) and are disconnected failing re-verification. Till date, about 40.6 lakh and 14.4 lakh mobile connections have been disconnected reported as 'Not My Number' and Not Required' respectively.

Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR2018) issued by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to curb Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC), enable the telecom subscribers for registering preferences in the Preference Register for 'Do Not Disturb (DND)' service. Registration of the preferences can be done through various modes such as mobile App, sending SMS or calling on 1909. TSPs are required to make this facility available for their customers on 24 hours x 7 days basis. Till date, about 22 crore subscribers have registered their preferences. Following major steps have been taken for the effective operation of DND service:

- (i) Department  of  Telecommunications  (DoT)  has  allocated  140xxx  series  for commercial  calls  by  telemarketers  (TMs)  and  160xxx  series  for  service  and transactional voice calls by banks and financial entities.
- (ii) TRAI  has  issued  directions  on  13 th June  2023  to  all  TSPs  to  deploy  artificial intelligence  and  machine  learning  based  system  to  detect  the  unregistered telemarketers (UTMs) involved in sending UCC.

(c) TCCCPR-2018 provides provisions for imposition of financial disincentives against the TSPs failing to curb UCC in their networks from Registered Telemarketers (RTMs). Till date, TRAI has imposed financial disincentives  of about 109 crore on the TSPs for failing to  curb  UCC  in their networks from RTMs. Further, TSPs are required to act against UTMs, involved in sending UCC, such  as  giving  warning,  putting  them  under  Usage  Cap  or  disconnecting  in  case  of  repeated violations. As per report submitted by TSPs 15,382 telephones in 2021, 32,032 telephones in 2022 and 27,043 telephones in 2023 were disconnected for sending UCC.

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