The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will issue a consultation paper this week for stakeholders to elicit views on a ‘Do-Call’ registry, where only registered users would be called by telemarketing firms.
A senior Trai official said the lukewarm response to the National-Do-Not-Call (NDNC) registry was the reason behind exploring the possibility of a Do-Call Registry (DCR) instead.
Introduced in October 2007, the NDNC has just gathered 20 million cellphone users of the 448 million wireless subscribers, who have opted for no-calls from pesky tele-marketing companies.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had asked the government to explore the possibility of having a ‘Do-Call’ registry. As and when that comes up, telemarketing companies would call only the registered cellphone users. Unsolicited calls made to cellphone users outside the registry would be illegal.
Industry experts said a DCR would be far more effective in putting a stop to such unwanted calls.
DoT had earlier referred the matter to Trai.
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There have been increasing complaints that unsolicited telemarketing calls persist, despite having the mechanism in place.
For the telemarketing companies, it would also be easier to target their pitches.