Suffer unsolicited mobile calls till Feb 1

New Delhi, Dec 29: For all those who think that the New Year will mean the end of unsolicited commercial calls and messages, you will have to wait a little longer. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had earlier promised that such calls would end from January 2011.

Consumers will have to suffer a while longer to get reprieve and wait till February 1, 2011. TRAI in a statement said, "Telemarketers registration shall commence from Jan 15 and other provisions shall come into force from Feb 1. Having regard to security audit of the website and other processes involved, TRAI has found it necessary to re-determine the dates for implementation of the regulations."

The telecom authority have issued a months grace period for operators and telemarketers by issuing a second amendment to its December 1 'Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations'.

"We had asked the TRAI for some more time. There is a whole lot of work that has to be done in order to comply with the security concerns, including setting up of infrastructure to filter calls," said Rajan Mathew, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India.

OneIndia News