TRAI to fine telecom companies up to Rs20,000 for annoying tele calls

Exhausted with the, ''Sir, would you like to avail of a customised insurance plan,'' and the ''Madam, a pre-approved personal loan awaits you'' calls? Here is good news for you.

TRAI, on Monday, apprised telecom companies that they would be responsible for unwarranted calls made by telemarketers to their subscribers. The first unsolicited telemarketing call made to a DNC (Do-Not-Call) registered customer, would attract a fine of Rs5,000. Every subsequent call would make the service provider poorer by Rs20,000.

The telemarketing company also will be fined Rs500 for the first call, and Rs1,000 for ensuing calls.

All the consumer has to do is to lodge a complaint with the service provider within 15 days of receiving the unwelcome call.

TRAI believes that its stand of a strong fine imposition is justified, and it has arrived at this decision after the rising number of complaints about telemarketing calls.

However, sources believe that telecom companies will challenge this TRAI directive. Operators are likely to argue on the basis that unregistered telemarketers were making majority of the unsolicited calls, and they have no control over them.

It is interesting to note that only a fraction of the subscriber base in India has opted for the DNC registry – 8.3 million subscribers of an estimated 250 million base. Most of the registered users are from the metros, however, when compared with the subscriber base (over 50 million) of the metros, they also form a small percentage.

Per the TRAI data, 13,600 telemarketers who are registered with the DoT, and 600 telemarketers access the DNC list to get their daily calling list. Further, about 92% of the 1,522 million numbers, that the callers use as their database, are cleared and available for calling.

No wonder, you still get those annoying calls!