A Central Do Not Call Registry may be formed as early as next month. The purpose is to stop unsolicited calls to mobile users, who will register on the list.
In an open house discussion on unsolicited calls, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and telecom operators have agreed to form a central DNC registry at the earliest.
Unsolicited calls, mainly telemarketting calls, have been a matter of worry for millions of mobile users. However, Trai in its consultation paper had made it clear that the regulator does not want to ban the telemarketing industry.
"Telemarketers will have to check if a mobile user has registered with the DNC register. If a user has registered in the central DNC registry, telemarketers making calls to the user will be penalised," a Trai official said.
He added that the central DNC registry would be ready by next month. However, on the penalty front, it is not clear who should be empowered to punish violators.
SC Khanna, secretary general, Association of Unified Service Providers of India, said that a committee has been formed with members from AUSPI, COAI (Cellular Operators' Association of India) and NIC (National Informatics Centre) to form a central DNC registry immediately.
"The industry is in favour of the move. However, the licensor should be responsible for punishing the violators and not the service providers," he added.
Meanwhile, Mobile Mantra, a solution provider, has said that it has developed an application, which allows consumers to get telemarketing calls only in their areas of interest (like car loans from a particular bank) and at a specified day and time.
The Trai official added that the solution has been proposed and Trai is looking at it. The move will service the dual purpose of ending the woes of countless mobile users and controlling the problem instead, of a complete ban.
"It will help telemarketing companies to get their target audience rather than making random calls," Naveen Varshneya, CEO of Mobile Mantra, said.