Hyderabad: Tele callers on TRAI radar for misusing unlimited call offers

Hyderabad: The announcement of unlimited free calls by telecom operators are being misused by tele callers for making promotional calls.

As per the guidelines of the Telecom Regulation Authority of India (Trai), tele callers should register with it to obtain the telemarketing phone number begins with 140. A promotional call with general mobile phones is called ‘unsolicited commercial communication’ which is a crime under the Trai Act.

An official from the department of telecommunication  said, “Now, the Trai is preparing guidelines and developing a strict surveillance system to monitor such activities. The complaint and redressal system can terminate the particular mobile phone number for using it for tele calling.”

Another official from the Trai in the city said that after the unlimited free call offers, unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) practices have increased. “Each mobile user is getting at least two such calls in a day. We are organising a consumer out-reach programme to create awareness on lodging complaints. Customers can lodge complaints on our website, www.trai.gov.in, and by calling 1909. Customers can also lodge complaint with the         customer care centre of the respective telecom operator,” the official said.

In last one month, the Trai terminated 100 mobile numbers for using it for UCC.

The official said that after receiving complaints from customers, the Trai conducts inquiry and terminates the mobile number for lifetime.

J. Nagaraju, member of the Telecom Advisory Committee (TAC), said that customers can lodge complaint with the Trai if they get calls from tele marketing agencies. “Customers should be aware of the complaint mechanism,” he said.

TRAI unveils DND 2.0 app to file plaints
After obtaining permission from the government to act tough against UCC issues, the Trai has developed an app, DND 2.0, for mobile users to lodge complaints.

An official from the Trai said that so far more than 2 lakh customers have downloaded the app across the country. “About 50 per cent of users registered complaints against either UCC calls or UCC messages. We are pursuing the issues. Sometimes it takes more time to terminate a mobile number for misused UCC,” the official said.

“We are updating the status of the complaint through the app. The app also offers DND services to protect customers from telemarketing. We also provide an intelligent spam detection engine,” the official added.

The Trai has asked customers to register complaints within three days after getting UCC calls. “The app will provide the call log of mobile user     to identify the spam call number. We released DND 2.0 ten days back,” the official said.

Cyber crime experts pat TRAI
Cyber crime investigators said that termination of mobile numbers of those who send spam-ware through SMSs and WhatsApp messages is a good decision.

Mr Sandeep Mudalkar, cyber crime consultant for the TS, AP, Karnataka and Maharashtra police, said that adopting technology by telecommunication department is setting things right. Biometric authentication pro-cess based on Aadhaar is controlling such frauds.