TRAI sets 10-second limit for delivering banking transaction messages
18 Apr 2012
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which has issued new regulations to ensure faster and reliable mobile banking services, has fixed a 10-second time limit for operators to deliver banking transaction-related messages to customers.
As per the new guidelines, the access service providers need to facilitate the banks to use short messaging services (SMSs), 'unstructured supplementary service data' (USSD) and 'interactive voice response' (IVR) to provide banking services to its customers.
The response time for delivery of message should not be more than two seconds for USSD services. USSD is a protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the service provider's computers.
The access service providers can also optionally facilitate the bank to use 'wireless access protocol' or STK, a SIM-based application kit, TRAI said.
''Every access provider, acting as bearer, shall facilitate the banks to use SMS, USSD and IVR to provide banking services to its customers and deliver the message generated by the bank or the customer within the time frame specified," TRAI said releasing regulations on 'Quality of Service' for mobile banking, 2012.
"These time frames are for the first delivery attempt," it said.