Some rules are of no use

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: It has been a year since the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) put the Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications Regulations - 2007 (TUCCR) in place but the National Do Not Call (NDNC) Registry that prohibits Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) to telephone users proved to be ineffective. There are now over 225 million telephone subscribers across the country but only about 7.5 million of them have registered with the NDNC. Trai estimates that telemarketers make more than 10 billion calls in India every year, leaving the mobile phone users, in particular, a harassed lot. As per the mandatory requirement under the TUCC regulations, 12183 telemarketers in the country registered with the NDNC but still phone users continue to receive unwanted calls day in and day out as new companies, banks and insurance firms keep mushrooming. It normally takes 45 days for an NDNC registration to become active, once a request is placed with the telecom service provider, and block all Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC). But in many cases the UCC never stops. Telecom service providers aren't really helpful in dealing with complaints against UCC by telemarketers, though as per regulation fines ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 20,000 could be levied for different levels of violations. "Yes, we do get complaints about telemarketing calls but the number is minimal. Since tracing such calls and cross-checking with the NDNC registers consumes time, subscribers do not generally persist with their complaints," a senior manager of a telecom company tried to reason. With the NDNC not being of much use, subscribers often tend to vent their ire at the telemarketing callers. When one caller repeatedly disturbed him on behalf of a bank offering a "personal loan," a senior IAS officer had threatened that he would get her arrested if she called again. When a telemarketer wanted to know "when is it the right time to speak to you," another IAS officer retorted rather politely: "Amma, no time is right for you to talk to me." Most harassed are mobile users who have fancy or VIP numbers. Telemarketers randomly pick up such numbers and keeping calling without even knowing the identify of the call receiver. "This irks us more. They pick up our number from somewhere and keep calling. I have registered with NDNC at least four times but to no avail. The messages and telemarketing calls are unabated," complained a software executive Nidhi. Phone users feel strict enforcement and prompt disposal of complaints by telecom service providers could arrest the problem. As the regulator, the onus is thus on Trai to rein in service providers as well as telemarketers.