Government disconnects 51,000 telephones for pesky calls

The government has disconnected over 51,000 telephone numbers of such subscribers who had not registered themselves as a telemarketer but were involved in the activity, parliament was informed Friday.

Notices have been served on nearly 88,300 subscribers who have carried out similar violations, Minister of State for Communications and IT, Milind Deora said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

As per the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010, no subscriber, who is not registered with the sector regulator TRAI as a telemarketer, shall make any commercial communications.

In case it is found that the commercial call was originated by a subscriber who is not registered with TRAI as a telemarketer, the originating access provider shall issue a notice to such subscriber forthwith yo discontinue the sending of such communications.

If such subscriber sends a commercial communication to any subscriber on a second occasion then his telecom services will be disconnected.

Government is aware that several calls and SMSs are being sent by subscribers, without getting themselves registered with TRAI as a telemarketer, by using normal telephone connections having numbers, other than the '140' number series allotted to registered telemarketers, Deora said.

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, he added.