TRAI,
the telecom regulatory authority of India, is a govrnment body that
can't seem to mind its own buisness. They recently created headlines
with their latest decision to restrict telecom subscribers to a maximum
of 100 SMSes per day.
This post is a journal recording my attempts to go to the TRAI website and find out how in the world they can justify such a dumb rule.
----
Alright, so a google search for TRAI quickly brings up their website. http://www.trai.gov.in/Default.asp#. Now this website looks like something put together by a teen hacking in his room in 1995. The scrolling texts and bad colors make this site look real ugly. To their credit however, the website actually works, and most links seem to work flawlessly (this is very rare for a government of india webpage).
Correction: the links DON'T work. To the left of the page, there is a column of links to places like "Regulations", "FAQs", "Press Releases" and the like. It seems pretty complete at first. The weird part is that all these pages link back to the home page. Typical govt. of India nonsense.
However, the flashy things scrolling in the centre of the page seem to work. The search bar seems to work, however, you need select the type of document, the year of release and the internal department that is responsible for it. Now, I am looking for something that says "less than 100 smses per day", how on earth should I know which department prepared it and what format it was in?
I am trying "Regulations" "2011" and "Moble Networks" a try. --- 2011 does not have any regulations by Mobile Networks. Let me try "Press Releases".
----
Nope. No luck.
----
After an hour of searching, I found a press release. You can find it here http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/trai/upload/PressReleases/840/PRESS_RELEAS.pdf .
Hmmm. That press release talks about how Vodafone paid 50 grand. It also gave me the name of the paper I'm supposed to be looking for:
“The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010”.
Well, this dumb rule was proposed in 2010, and looks like no one cared back then! Its come into effect from 27th September 2011.
Now let me try and find the original paper.
---
Well, here it is!
http://www.trai.gov.in/TCCCPR_with_6Amendments.pdf
WARNING: Long boring document! Might cause drowsiness, frustration and under severe circumstances, cause you to question the very purpose of your existence.
----
I just read through the original regulation. Guess what? It does not say anything about the daily 100 SMS limit. But I did find a super awesome fact in the paper.
SUPER AWESOME FACT COMING UP!
Everyone knows about the Do Not Disturb option to stop telemarketers from calling you. But what about the SMSes? Have you ever had those annoying hundred different SMSes about trips to goa or life insurance offers clog up your inbox? Have you always wanted to find a way to get rid of all of them?
Well, the TRAI has made life easy for you. What follows below is the part (c) of Schedule 1 of the above mentioned paper.
c. Registration of preference through SMS
14. A customer may also exercise his preference by sending SMS to 1909.
15. If the customer wants to exercise the option of fully blocked, he may send SMS “START 0”.
16. If the customer wants to exercise the option of partially blocked, he may send SMS “Start
for receiving SMS relating to Banking/Insurance/Financial
products/credit cards
“START 2” for receiving SMS relating to Real Estate
“START 3” for receiving SMS relating to Education
“START 4” for receiving SMS relating to Health
“START 5” for receiving SMS relating to Consumer goods and automobiles
“START 6” for receiving SMS relating to Communication/Broadcasting/Entertainment/IT
“START 7” for receiving SMS relating to Tourism and Leisure 17. A customer can also choose multiple preferences from categories of preference
mentioned in para 16 above.
17 For receiving commercial SMSs from Banking/Insurance/Financial products/credit cards and Real Estate, the customer may send SMS in the format “START 1,2”.
So send STOP 0 to 1909 to block all messages being sent to you!!
Also, under the Miscellaneous section under Schedule 1, point II reads:
II. A toll-free short code 1909 shall be available to customers for registration or change or de-registration in the National Customer Preference Register.
So sending an SMS to 1909 should be toll free.
And what do you do if you still get telemarketing calls or messages even after unregistering yourself?
Well, read schedule VI of this paper:
SCHEDULE –VI
PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION OF COMPLAINT
a. Complaint registration through voice call
1. A customer may make a call to 1909 for registering his complaint.
2. The customer care executive shall ask the customer about the details like
particulars of telemarketer, the telephone number from which the
unsolicited commercial communication has originated the date, time and
brief description of such unsolicited commercial communication.
3. The customer care executive shall register the customer complaint and
acknowledge the complaint by providing a unique complaint number.
b. Complaint Registration through SMS
4. A customer may register unsolicited commercial communications related
complaint by sending SMS to 1909 in the format given below-
“COMP TEL NO XXXXXXXXXX, dd/mm/yy, Time hh:mm”
Where XXXXXXXXXX – is the telephone number or header of the SMS, as
the case may be, from which the unsolicited commercial communication
has originated.
5. The customer complaint shall be registered and acknowledged by providing
him a unique complaint number through SMS.
Ok everyone! Lets give those marketers Hell!! :D :D :D
----
Well, atleast one good thing came out of reading this article. But what about the 100 SMS limit? The search continues...
----
Ah! Found it! This regulation is found in the 6th amendment, dated September 5th, 2011.
In sub-regulation (2) of regulation 20 of the principal regulations,---
(c) after clause (k), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:-
(ka) no Access Provider shall permit sending of more than one
hundred SMS per day per SIM:
Provided that in case of post paid telephone number the Access
Provider shall not permit more than three thousand SMS per SIM
per month:
Provided further that in case of post paid telephone number, the
Access Provider shall not permit sending of more than one
hundred SMS per day per SIM from a date to be notified by the
Authority;
(kb) the Authority may by direction, from time to time, specify
the category of SMS which shall be excluded from the limit of one
hundred SMS per day per SIM:
Provided that before permitting a customer to send specified
category of SMS beyond the limit of one hundred SMS per day
per SIM, the Access Provider shall obtain an undertaking from such customer that he shall not use such telephone number for
sending any commercial communications:
Provided further that the Access Provider shall enter, in the list
maintained in the National Telemarketer Register, the telephone
number, name and address of the customer, category of exempted
SMS and date of permitting sending of SMS beyond limit of one
hundred SMS per day per SIM and the said list shall be updated
every Monday.”
----
Heights of pointlessness!
The justification for this regulation was to stop telemarketers from bothering people. However, in a follow up to this regulation, on the 27th September 2011, the TRAI released this document which says
... clause (k) of sub-regulation (2) of regulation 20 of the
regulations provides that no Access Provider shall provide to any person,
other than a telemarketer registered with the Authority, any tariff plan or SMS package in any form such as special recharge voucher, student
pack, seasonal pack etc. permitting sending of more than one hundred
SMS per day per SIM ...
So the telemarketers are exempted from this regulation. What the hell is going on?
----
Here is how I see it. In the recent London protests, the London police determined that mobs used SMSes to communicate and organize massive rallies that were unpredictable and uncontrollable. The police found the mobs to be better organized and better prepared than the police were!
Following the Anna Hazare movement, I guess the Sonia Gandhi government is shit scared about what is going to happen the next time the people decide to rise in protest.
----
In my opinion, telecommunication channels are a national resource. It is a resource that helps business grow, that helps people stay connected and helps build and maintain national integrity in the same way that news papers did in the pre-independence era.
Here in Arlington, Texas, I see how the citizens of America rose in protest in the latest and currently ongoing "Occupy Wall Street" protests. Why the fuck are people back home in India not complaining?
Well, the people are complaining. I see the blogosphere is ablaze with TRAI bashing and comments and opinions. But that isn't enough. There are only a handful of bloggers and people who read blogs in India.
What would be more effective would be campaign organized on facebook.
Dilip's law of internet #3: Everyone is on facebook.
Imagine a protest organized on facebook, where everyone sends a postcard, to the protector of our constitutional rights, the supreme court of India, which says "I need more than 100 smses per day. I am ready to pay for it. My access provider is ready and willing to provide this facility. The 100 sms per day limit is affecting the quality of my lifestyle. Please defend my constitutional rights in this regard".
Or something like that. Imagine a million people sending just one post card a day, every day, to the supreme court, till the rule is removed. A single postcard per day will cost the same as the cost of an SMS that some people have to pay.
The supreme court has in the past, accepted messages scribbled on a post card and sent to it, as a valid public interest litigation, and acted upon it.
This kind of protest will work, if planned and organized well. Anybody care to help me do this?
Share your thoughts.
This post is a journal recording my attempts to go to the TRAI website and find out how in the world they can justify such a dumb rule.
----
Alright, so a google search for TRAI quickly brings up their website. http://www.trai.gov.in/Default.asp#. Now this website looks like something put together by a teen hacking in his room in 1995. The scrolling texts and bad colors make this site look real ugly. To their credit however, the website actually works, and most links seem to work flawlessly (this is very rare for a government of india webpage).
Correction: the links DON'T work. To the left of the page, there is a column of links to places like "Regulations", "FAQs", "Press Releases" and the like. It seems pretty complete at first. The weird part is that all these pages link back to the home page. Typical govt. of India nonsense.
However, the flashy things scrolling in the centre of the page seem to work. The search bar seems to work, however, you need select the type of document, the year of release and the internal department that is responsible for it. Now, I am looking for something that says "less than 100 smses per day", how on earth should I know which department prepared it and what format it was in?
I am trying "Regulations" "2011" and "Moble Networks" a try. --- 2011 does not have any regulations by Mobile Networks. Let me try "Press Releases".
----
Nope. No luck.
----
After an hour of searching, I found a press release. You can find it here http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/trai/upload/PressReleases/840/PRESS_RELEAS.pdf .
Hmmm. That press release talks about how Vodafone paid 50 grand. It also gave me the name of the paper I'm supposed to be looking for:
“The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010”.
Well, this dumb rule was proposed in 2010, and looks like no one cared back then! Its come into effect from 27th September 2011.
Now let me try and find the original paper.
---
Well, here it is!
http://www.trai.gov.in/TCCCPR_with_6Amendments.pdf
WARNING: Long boring document! Might cause drowsiness, frustration and under severe circumstances, cause you to question the very purpose of your existence.
----
I just read through the original regulation. Guess what? It does not say anything about the daily 100 SMS limit. But I did find a super awesome fact in the paper.
SUPER AWESOME FACT COMING UP!
Everyone knows about the Do Not Disturb option to stop telemarketers from calling you. But what about the SMSes? Have you ever had those annoying hundred different SMSes about trips to goa or life insurance offers clog up your inbox? Have you always wanted to find a way to get rid of all of them?
Well, the TRAI has made life easy for you. What follows below is the part (c) of Schedule 1 of the above mentioned paper.
c. Registration of preference through SMS
14. A customer may also exercise his preference by sending SMS to 1909.
15. If the customer wants to exercise the option of fully blocked, he may send SMS “START 0”.
16. If the customer wants to exercise the option of partially blocked, he may send SMS “Start
for receiving SMS relating to Banking/Insurance/Financial
products/credit cards
“START 2” for receiving SMS relating to Real Estate
“START 3” for receiving SMS relating to Education
“START 4” for receiving SMS relating to Health
“START 5” for receiving SMS relating to Consumer goods and automobiles
“START 6” for receiving SMS relating to Communication/Broadcasting/Entertainment/IT
“START 7” for receiving SMS relating to Tourism and Leisure 17. A customer can also choose multiple preferences from categories of preference
mentioned in para 16 above.
17 For receiving commercial SMSs from Banking/Insurance/Financial products/credit cards and Real Estate, the customer may send SMS in the format “START 1,2”.
So send STOP 0 to 1909 to block all messages being sent to you!!
Also, under the Miscellaneous section under Schedule 1, point II reads:
II. A toll-free short code 1909 shall be available to customers for registration or change or de-registration in the National Customer Preference Register.
So sending an SMS to 1909 should be toll free.
And what do you do if you still get telemarketing calls or messages even after unregistering yourself?
Well, read schedule VI of this paper:
SCHEDULE –VI
PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION OF COMPLAINT
a. Complaint registration through voice call
1. A customer may make a call to 1909 for registering his complaint.
2. The customer care executive shall ask the customer about the details like
particulars of telemarketer, the telephone number from which the
unsolicited commercial communication has originated the date, time and
brief description of such unsolicited commercial communication.
3. The customer care executive shall register the customer complaint and
acknowledge the complaint by providing a unique complaint number.
b. Complaint Registration through SMS
4. A customer may register unsolicited commercial communications related
complaint by sending SMS to 1909 in the format given below-
“COMP TEL NO XXXXXXXXXX, dd/mm/yy, Time hh:mm”
Where XXXXXXXXXX – is the telephone number or header of the SMS, as
the case may be, from which the unsolicited commercial communication
has originated.
5. The customer complaint shall be registered and acknowledged by providing
him a unique complaint number through SMS.
Ok everyone! Lets give those marketers Hell!! :D :D :D
----
Well, atleast one good thing came out of reading this article. But what about the 100 SMS limit? The search continues...
----
Ah! Found it! This regulation is found in the 6th amendment, dated September 5th, 2011.
In sub-regulation (2) of regulation 20 of the principal regulations,---
(c) after clause (k), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:-
(ka) no Access Provider shall permit sending of more than one
hundred SMS per day per SIM:
Provided that in case of post paid telephone number the Access
Provider shall not permit more than three thousand SMS per SIM
per month:
Provided further that in case of post paid telephone number, the
Access Provider shall not permit sending of more than one
hundred SMS per day per SIM from a date to be notified by the
Authority;
(kb) the Authority may by direction, from time to time, specify
the category of SMS which shall be excluded from the limit of one
hundred SMS per day per SIM:
Provided that before permitting a customer to send specified
category of SMS beyond the limit of one hundred SMS per day
per SIM, the Access Provider shall obtain an undertaking from such customer that he shall not use such telephone number for
sending any commercial communications:
Provided further that the Access Provider shall enter, in the list
maintained in the National Telemarketer Register, the telephone
number, name and address of the customer, category of exempted
SMS and date of permitting sending of SMS beyond limit of one
hundred SMS per day per SIM and the said list shall be updated
every Monday.”
----
Heights of pointlessness!
The justification for this regulation was to stop telemarketers from bothering people. However, in a follow up to this regulation, on the 27th September 2011, the TRAI released this document which says
regulations provides that no Access Provider shall provide to any person,
other than a telemarketer registered with the Authority, any tariff plan or SMS package in any form such as special recharge voucher, student
pack, seasonal pack etc. permitting sending of more than one hundred
SMS per day per SIM ...
So the telemarketers are exempted from this regulation. What the hell is going on?
----
Here is how I see it. In the recent London protests, the London police determined that mobs used SMSes to communicate and organize massive rallies that were unpredictable and uncontrollable. The police found the mobs to be better organized and better prepared than the police were!
Following the Anna Hazare movement, I guess the Sonia Gandhi government is shit scared about what is going to happen the next time the people decide to rise in protest.
----
In my opinion, telecommunication channels are a national resource. It is a resource that helps business grow, that helps people stay connected and helps build and maintain national integrity in the same way that news papers did in the pre-independence era.
Here in Arlington, Texas, I see how the citizens of America rose in protest in the latest and currently ongoing "Occupy Wall Street" protests. Why the fuck are people back home in India not complaining?
Well, the people are complaining. I see the blogosphere is ablaze with TRAI bashing and comments and opinions. But that isn't enough. There are only a handful of bloggers and people who read blogs in India.
What would be more effective would be campaign organized on facebook.
Dilip's law of internet #3: Everyone is on facebook.
Imagine a protest organized on facebook, where everyone sends a postcard, to the protector of our constitutional rights, the supreme court of India, which says "I need more than 100 smses per day. I am ready to pay for it. My access provider is ready and willing to provide this facility. The 100 sms per day limit is affecting the quality of my lifestyle. Please defend my constitutional rights in this regard".
Or something like that. Imagine a million people sending just one post card a day, every day, to the supreme court, till the rule is removed. A single postcard per day will cost the same as the cost of an SMS that some people have to pay.
The supreme court has in the past, accepted messages scribbled on a post card and sent to it, as a valid public interest litigation, and acted upon it.
This kind of protest will work, if planned and organized well. Anybody care to help me do this?
Share your thoughts.
