Government’s Move Against Pesky Calls

Pesky calls and messages are a nuisance for many mobile phone users, who often receive unwanted and unsolicited commercial communications from various entities. The government has taken several steps to address this issue, including imposing penalties on violators, creating special units to track and disable the infrastructure of offenders, and forming a committee to draft guidelines for regulating over-the-top channels like WhatsApp.

Penalties for violators, Pesky Calls

According to the Times of India, the government has decided to slap financial penalties on offenders who make pesky calls or send spam messages, ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000 per violation. The telecom department has also created two special wings — digital intelligence unit (DIU) and telecom analytics for fraud management and consumer protection (TAFCOP) — to co-ordinate with law enforcement agencies, financial institutions and other government agencies in cases involving frauds using telecom resources or services. The maximum penalty has been fixed at Rs 10,000 per violation, and the telecom department also created two special wings — digital intelligence unit (DIU) and telecom analytics for fraud management and consumer protection (TAFCOP) — to track crimes committed through telecom networks .

The decision to impose financial penalty may act as a strong deterrent against the nagging instances of unwanted calls, messages and frauds perpetrated through mobile networks, which had continued unabated even when subscribers registered for the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) service. To opt out of any promotional SMS henceforth, a mobile phone subscriber will need to send an SMS to 1909 with the message ‘STOP’ followed by the name of the company which has been sending the nagging, unwanted communication. “This will block all the promotional communications from all the headers registered against the said entity, except transactional messages,” the telecom department said .

Guidelines for OTT channels

The government may also be looking at regulating or issuing guidelines to over-the-top channels such as WhatsApp to check the increasing menace of pesky calls and messages, with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs leading the discussions on the subject. Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) chaired a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the issue of unsolicited commercial calls which are made by enterprises to promote their products and services. “In this meeting, they discussed in detail the issue of spam calls and how they are now switching to internet call, especially using Whatsapp to mislead consumers. It was proposed in the meeting to constitute a committee for drafting guidelines for regulating and checking pesky calls,” the DoCA said in a post on X on Wednesday .

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Department of Telecommunications, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), telecom industry body COAΙ, and telecom companies including Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel. Back in 2018, the TRAI mandated all telcos to adopt a blockchain-based system to onboard all enterprises who wish to send commercial messages and calls. It was to ensure that telecom users receive only the communication which they have consented for. Lately, WhatsApp through its Business channel has also started sending marketing communication with options to opt-out for recipients .

Conclusion

The government’s move against pesky calls is a welcome step for millions of mobile phone users who are harassed by unwanted and unsolicited commercial communications. The government has shown its resolve to curb this menace by imposing penalties on violators, creating special units to track and disable the infrastructure of offenders, and forming a committee to draft guidelines for regulating over-the-top channels like WhatsApp. These measures are expected to reduce the instances of pesky calls and messages and protect consumers from frauds and scams.

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