Monday, September 26, 2011

TRAI restriction on 100 SMS a day

Notwithstanding opposition from telecom operators, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has made it clear that it is not going to withdraw its move to restrict SMS to 100 per day per SIM for all subscribers. The restriction on SMS, however, will not be applicable on festival days such as Diwali and Eid.



"In order to curb the menace of pesky calls and messages, as of now, this (limit of hundred SMS per day per SIM) will be applicable to all users. If in future some problem arises, we will see the things," reports quote a Trai source as saying.
 
The cap on SMS is scheduled to come into effect from September 27, 2011.

The TRAI has come under fire from all corners for its move to restrict the number of SMS. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) recently called upon the telecom regulator to reconsider its decision. The COAI said that such restrictions could challenge the “fundamental rights” of a subscriber.
 
Young population of India aggressively uses SMSes as their mode of communication as this really cheap. There are various SMS packages which these youth subscribe to for getting attractive rates for SMS.  

This decision will also effect various companies which uses SMS as their mode of advertising and thus make money. Their whole business model is based on sending bulk SMS to subscribers. These companies are not creating any dissatisfaction as SMS are sent only to those who subscribe to their services and these companies sometimes pay money to these subscribers also.
 
Earlier, the TRAI announced Per Day Per Sim (PDPS) rule under which telecom service providers were asked to withdraw their SMS service packs that allow customers to send over 100 SMS per day. The body then said that the move would help prevent telemarketers from bombarding subscribers with spam calls and SMS.

What are you views on this new decision by TRAI. SHare your comments on this platform and raise your voice.



3 comments:

  1. This is against our basic rights

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  2. Plz explain y the Govt. doesnt use the DND effecively?? It takes atleast 40-60 days for the pesky calls to stop? And plz explain the highly intelligent TRAI officers that a sim hardly cost 30 bucks now. A tele-marketer can buy 100 sim and send calls to ten thousand nos. by a single handset. All he has to do is forward the msg till excess limit is reached and den swap d sim.

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  3. You are right. DND is a better way to handle such situations. And on the price of the sim, I will say, they are giving it for free. So, yes, telmarketer can take more number of sims on family member names. This is ridiculous. I remember the days when I was in college and mass SMS was one of the most effective way as iPhone and Blackberry are still not common in India.

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