TRAI issues Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2013

May 31, 2013

With the objective to curb Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC), The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released ‘The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Twelfth Amendment) Regulations, 2013’.
This amendment adds more measures to the existing Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010 which came into force in 2011. It addresses the operational issues as well as measures for tightening the regulatory framework.
Focus: The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Twelfth Amendment) Regulations, 2013 has been issued to tighten the control of regulatory framework, especially relating to commercial communication from subscribers indulging in telemarketing activities, intentionally disguising themselves without registering as telemarketer with TRAI. The subscribers indulge in the activities like these without making payment of promotional SMS charge or the other kind of charges or deposits which should be paid by the registered telemarketers. These subscribers also circumvent the procedures for telemarketing followed by registered telemarketers. The subscribers like these indulge in sending unsolicited commercial communications to the customers who are even registered in National Customer Preference Register (NCPR).
What is NCPR?
National Customer Preference Register (NCPR) is a regulation facility introduced by the TRAI in 2011 when it found that the National Do Not Call (NDNC, also called as do not disturb, DND) Registry failed to curb the problem of unsolicited commercial calls/messages. This facility provides choice to customers to either fully or partially block the commercial communication on the basis of their own preferences on receiving commercial communication for specific categories like real estate, education, finance, entertainment, health and tourism etc.
What is the key feature of this Regulation?
If a UCC complaint is found valid, the originating Access provider will be liable to disconnect all the telecom resources allotted to such subscriber, after making necessary investigations. Such a guilty subscriber’s name and address will be blacklisted by for two years. Once the subscriber enters into the blacklist, all the Access Providers will disconnect the telecom resources provided by them to such subscriber within 24 hours.