Trai Plans to Sit With Telcos and Discuss Concerns Over New Pesky Call Rules: R S Sharma

The Indian telecom regulator will be soon meeting the telecom operators to discuss the concerns raised over the freshly issued pesky call rules. Trai chief, R S Sharma today reaffirmed that Trai would look into concerns flagged by the industry on the implementation of new pesky call rules, while the serious issue of unsolicited telemarketing calls and messages cannot be “undermined.” Sharma, who has been re-appointed as Trai Chairman for two more years told PTI that he had directed his officials to call operators for a meeting soon to understand their grievances around unsolicited commercial communication. His comments that the regulator will give operators a patient hearing on the matter assumes significance as there has been a disquiet in the industry over the new unsolicited commercial communication norms.

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The Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) had raised a red flag over Trai’s (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) new rules on curbing pesky calls and messages, terming them complex, time-consuming and devoid of a cost-benefit analysis.

“I have asked my officers to call the operators…understand from them…there may be a communication gap between what regulations say and what the operators understand…there could be some implementation issues, so we will discuss with them and see where the problem lies,” Sharma said.

Trai plans to sit with the operators and talk about their difficulties and perceived problem areas, he said but added in the same breath that the issue of pesky calls was a “serious” one, and “must not be undermined”.

“The problem has to be tackled, and all shareholders must come together to tackle this common problem. We must see to it that compliance burden does not fall unduly on one stakeholder,” the Trai chief said.

Voicing concerns over the freshly-minted rules, COAI has maintained that tailoring of systems and use of blockchain technology will involve Rs 200-400 crore cost and 18 months for the rollout, at a crucial time when the sector is financially-stressed.