Amid the uproar against pesky calls and messages in the corridors of power, Tatas today proposed commercial penalties on operators for unsolicited telemarketing calls and alleged that rivals were resorting to pressure tactics to challenge its dominance.
"Yes, we are the market leader and a dominant player in the SMS market today... (Our) SMS marketing is completely within the regulatory provision," Tatas said when asked about the complaints against their SMSes from people including telecom professionals working for other service providers.
Tata Teleservices (TTSL) was asked about a complaint lodged by Narinder Gupta, who is incidentally heading the Regulatory Affairs of market leader Airtel, with telecom regulator Trai, seeking immediate remedial measures.
The complaints against promotional SMSes and TTSL's statement come a day after Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni expressed exasperation at dozens of realty ads flooding her mobile phone and demanded a ban on it.
Incidentally, Telecom Minister A Raja, concerned over reports that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee himself was subject to harassment by such pesky calls, asked his ministerial secretary to immediately talk to operators and take steps to curb the menace.
Gupta's complaint, in his personal capacity, listed unwanted promotional SMSes for five days ending July, 2010. As per the list and codes, bulk of the SMSes emanated from TTSL's network.
Another leading operator Vodafone had earlier written to TRAI listing out the number of complaints received by it against various service providers and alleged violation of "Do Not Disturb" regulation.
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It said the complaints against use of TTSL network for unwanted commercial calls were a staggering 73 per cent in November 2009 and 70 per cent in December.
Incidentally, Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor has suggested that a termination charge be imposed on operators who are generating such calls and SMSes.
Hitting back, TTSL said: "If it (SPAM) is creating any trouble for any customer, it is the responsibility of each operator to protect their subscribers from unsolicited calls and SMSes under the provision of Do Not Call, if a subscriber reaches out to them."
It said that because of its dominance, "the older operators, who have lost business and market share to us are now trying to create pressure tactics and blow up the issue".
Though stating that TTSL, being a Tata group company, was totally committed to helping curb spam, the statement said that SMS marketing is there since the very inception of the industry.