Only Rajnikanth can send the 101st SMS..!!!

-Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR) 2010

The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR) 2010 came into effect on September 27, 2011. The press release by the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology enlists the key features of this regulation as -- options to customers to exercise his preference, separate number for telemarketers starting with 140, easy registration of the telemarketers, sharing of database, blacklisting provisions, filtering of calls and SMS by service providers, restriction on more than 100 SMS per SIM per day, effective complaint redressal system and financial disincentive on Access Providers. Shri Kapil Sibal, the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology however clarified that messages involving transactions are not covered under these restrictions. This includes messages sent by schools to students, parents, financial institutions, banks, insurance companies, credit cards etc. 

In order to curb unsolicited commercial communication, which are a major cause of disturbance and inconvenience for Telecom users, TRAI notified “Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communication Regulations” in 2007, putting in place a framework for controlling unsolicited commercial communications. This Regulation was further improved through two amendments in 2008. As a result of this regulation, the number of unsolicited calls decreased but the number of unsolicited SMS increased. The Indian telecom customer demanded more from TRAI. 

After extensive deliberations and consultations with stakeholders, (TRAI) notified “The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010, on 1st December 2010. All the provisions of the regulations have come into force on 27th September 2011. The Regulations at one hand empowers the customers to exercise the options to control unsolicited commercial communications (UCC), it also provides the easy way to Telemarketers to Register with TRAI and get telecom resources from Access providers from identified series. 

However, it is unclear as to how the TRAI arrived at the number 100 for the SMS restriction. The TRAI limit is encumbering particularly for those sects of the society whose monthly earning is known by the name ‘Pocket money’. In response to this infringement, the president of Shiv Sena's youth wing, Aaditya Thackeray will be filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) at the High Court in two days, protesting the move, as reported by Mid-Day.  “The government wishes to curb the endless and disruptive flow of messages, but instead of addressing the source of the problem, they are imposing limitations on the public. This goes against the basic rights of an individual,” said Thackeray.

Apparently TRAI is obsessed with inviting public wrath, after submitting a no-loss report in a Rs 65,000 Crore worth scam and the present Regulation. It is also to be noted that the Regulations came into effect almost immediately after the Anna Hazare Campaign which had relied heavily on SMS campaigning - something which won’t be possible post the aforesaid amended regulation.

Click here to view the Amendments

Click here to view the Principle Legislation