Over 51,000 telephone subscribers disconnected for pesky calls

Telephone connections of 51,181 subscribers who had not been registered as telemarketers but were engaged in telemarketing activities had been disconnected. Notices had been served on 88,307 subscribers committing similar violations, minister of state for communications and information technology Milind Deora said in response to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

According to the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010, subscribers not registered with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as telemarketers, are barred from making commercial communication.

After verification of a complaint that a subscriber not registered as a telemarketer with TRAI indulged in unsolicited commercial communication, a notice is issued to the operator to stop doing so. In case the subscriber persisted, the regulations allow disconnection of the subscriber.

Deora said, based on the provision, action had been taken against the violators (till 30 July). ''From the complaints' data received from service providers, it is seen that the majority of complaints of unsolicited commercial communications are sent by telecom subscribers who were not registered as a telemarketer.''

The government was aware that several calls and SMSes were being made/sent by subscribers not registered with TRAI as telemarketers. Normal telephone connections having numbers other than the '140' number series allotted to registered telemarketers, were being used to make such calls, Deora added.