Pesky SMSes back! Unregistered telemarketers use new mobile SIM cards & message services via internet

NEW DELHI: Unsolicited text messages selling everything from cheap holidays to homes are once again making a mockery of the government's bid to restrict spam on mobile phones.

India's telecom regulator had in September 2011 allowed cellular operators to charge five paise for every promotional short text message sent on their networks to deter advertisers from defying an earlier ban.

"Spam messages from unknown mobile numbers have increased substantially," a provider of bulk text messages told ET on condition of anonymity.

Telemarketing companies that are not registered with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) are using new mobile phone SIM cards and internet portals that offer bulk messaging services to beat curbs imposed by the regulator.

"Being outside the ambit of Trai's regulations, these companies are not liable to pay telecom service providers a termination charge for every short text message sent in bulk," the person quoted earlier explained.

More than 160 million cell phone users signed in on Trai's National Customer Preference Register, what was earlier know as Do-Not-Call, had heaved a sigh of relief when unsolicited commercial calls and messages ebbed after the telecom regulator's September announcement, but the pesky commercials were back within weeks.

A senior executive of a telecom company said there is no law limiting the number of SIM cards a subscriber can purchase, highlighting the scale of the problem facing authorities.

An individual is allowed to purchase up to nine SIM cards through the normal verification process, said K Srinivas, cellular operator Bharti Airtel's head of consumer business.


The verification becomes more stringent for consumers seeking more cards.

For postpaid customers buying in bulk, which is usually the case when it is a business entity, the order is taken on the company's letterhead.

Also available for a paltry sum is the database of mobile phone users signed in on Trai's Do-Not-Call registry.

A Delhi-based message service provider said the Do-Not-Call registry database is available for as little as Rs 9,000.

"For this payment, the company will send a minimum of one lakh messages a day to these consumers and ensure a response.

Messages will go from a mobile number, which means that any customer will read it at least once," the telemarketer said.

Another bulk text message provider said advertisers are willing to pay a premium to send promotional messages to subscribers registered for the Do-Not-Call service.

"These are the potential customers for most advertisers. Since they know they are not supposed to send out promotional messages to these subscribers, they are willing to pay more."

Another tool in the hands of telemarketers is a software being provided by some internet portals that enables users to send messages to multiple phone numbers, including those on the Do-Not-Call registry.

Cabinet likely to consider National Telecom Policy tomorrow

नई दिल्ली: कैबिनेट कल राष्ट्रीय दूरसंचार नीति (एनटीपी) है कि रोमिंग शुल्कके उन्मूलन के लिए प्रदान करता है और उपयोगकर्ताओं को देश भर में एक ही नंबर को बनाए रखने के लिए अनुमति देता है पर विचार होने की संभावना है.

पिछले सप्ताह प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह की अध्यक्षता में मंत्रिमंडल के कुछ पहलुओं पर दूरसंचार विभाग द्वारा एनटीपी लंबित स्पष्टीकरण स्थगित कर दी.

वित्त और वाणिज्य जैसे मंत्रालयों के तहत विभाग प्रस्तावित नीति में नए नियमों पर आपत्तियों को उठाया था.

सूत्रों ने बताया कि दूरसंचार विभाग अब एनटीपी पर मसौदा नोट पर विभिन्नमंत्रालयों द्वारा उठाए गए मुद्दों पर स्पष्ट किया है.

उदाहरण के लिए, आर्थिक मामलों के विभाग ने कहा था कि राजस्वअधिकतमकरण 2012 राष्ट्रीय क्षयरोग नियंत्रण कार्यक्रम में माध्यमिकउद्देश्य नहीं हो सकता है.

डॉट ने अपनी ओर से आश्वासन दिया है, कि जब भी वित्तीय निहितार्थउत्पन्न होती हैं, तो एक अलग प्रस्ताव निम्नलिखित कारण प्रक्रिया के बादसक्षम प्राधिकारी के समक्ष रखा जाना होगा.

दूरसंचार विभाग अपना रुख दोहराया कि "प्राथमिक लक्ष्य राष्ट्रीय क्षयरोग नियंत्रण कार्यक्रम की पूरे देश भर में उपलब्ध सस्ती, विश्वसनीय औरसुरक्षित दूरसंचार और ब्रॉडबैंड सेवाओं द्वारा सार्वजनिक अच्छा अधिकतम है.

वाणिज्य मंत्रालय ने कहा था कि घरेलू निर्माताओं के लिए वरीयता सब्सिडीपर डब्ल्यूटीओ समझौते के खिलाफ है. डीओटी स्पष्ट घरेलू निर्माताओं के लिएखंड के रूप में 2 फरवरी को मंत्रिमंडल के निर्णय के प्रति है. 

Videocon Telecom to shut Kerala operations by June

Videocon Telecommunications, subsidiary of Videocon Industries, is winding up its operations in Kerala circle by the end of June following the cancellation of 2G licences by the Supreme Court. The company has started terminating employees working for the circle.

The termination letter issued to the employees by Resource Square Solutions, one of the companies providing recruitment services for Videocon Telecommunications in four circles, including Kerala, stated that the telecom service provider was shutting down operations in the circle.

“Based on the discussions you had with the senior team at Videocon Telecommunication they are winding up their operations in Kerala due to the telecom licence issue. As updated by them earlier, the last working day would be June 24, 2012. Please treat this as an official communication from Resource Square Solutions. The salaries for the month will be settled as a full and final settlement in the next month,” it said in a letter issued to an employee.

Around 75 people are working for the Kerala circle and most of them have received termination letters during the past few days. People hired by Videocon directly too have received their termination letters.

“The company (Videocon Telecommunications) hereby puts you to notice that your Letter of Appointment shall stand terminated with effect from June 21, 2012, upon your completion of two months notice period as per Clause 5 of the Letter of Appointment,” it said in a letter issued to an employee. However, the company has not cited reason for the termination. Though the employee wrote back to the company seeking reason, he did not receive a reply.

The Kerala circle had around 60,000 subscribers a few months back, but recently the number has come down to 15,000, officials in the company said. However, they declined to comment on the closing down of operations in the circle.

When asked about the development Venugopal Dhoot, chairman of Videocon Group told Financial Chronicle, “We are closing down operations in Kerala post the cancellation of 21 licences by Supreme Court. We do not have plans to wind up operations of other circles”. Videocon’s 21 licences were part of the 122 2G licences cancelled by the Supreme Court while giving orders on the cases related to the 2008 scam-tainted sale.

After receiving the licences, Videocon Telecommunications, known as Datacom at that time, did not start operations for more than two years due to an internal dispute. In February 2010, Datacom was re-branded as Videocon Telecommunications and the services were rolled out in the respective circles. As of January 2012, the company had almost 5.4 million users.

TRAI withdraws complaints against Airtel, Idea and Loop - smsgatewayhub

New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Friday withdrew its complaint against three major telecom players -- Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Loop Mobiles -- for violation of its regulations from a Delhi court, which was informed that they have taken remedial measures.

The TRAI had filed the complaint against the firms for rejecting number portability requests from their subscribers in violation of the TRAI regulations.

TRAI counsel told the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav that subsequent to the filing of the complaints, the companies had written a letter to the Authority stating that they have taken sufficient corrective and remedial measures to ensure that such violations do not occur in future.

The telecom regulator said that considering the contents of the letter, it has decided not to pursue the complaint and the same is being withdrawn.

The withdrawal of the complaint came on the day the top officials of the three firms were to appear before the court in response to its summonses issued on March 21.

The complaint before the CMM court against Airtel, Idea and Loop concerned alleged violation of norms that permitted subscribers to switch over from one service provider to another without change of their mobile phone numbers.

Another complaint against Bharti Airtel pending before the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Yaduvanshi was also withdrawn Friday.

The complaint pertained to alleged violations of TRAI norms of terminating the service of a customer within 24 hours of receipt of request and refund of security deposit within 60 days of termination.
The complaint was withdrawn as TRAI said the company had in a letter informed that it has redressed the grievances of its customer and has taken remedial measures.

The telecom regulator had in its complaint said after it launched mobile number portability in January 2011, it had directed all service providers including Bharti Airtel, Idea and Loop Mobiles to furnish compliance of various provisions of the Telecom Portability Regulations.

When TRAI ascertained the correctness of compliance (for number portability) by the three firms and obtained data pertaining to porting requests (to them) for a given period, it found certain requests had been illegally rejected.

In its complaint against Bharti Airtel, TRAI said the firm had rejected porting requests from its subscribers on grounds of "subscribers having withdrawn porting requests" and "contractual obligations".

In its complaint against Idea Cellular, TRAI said the company had on February 9, 2011 said it fully complies with the TRAI regulations on cell number portability.

It was, however, found that Idea had rejected 67 porting requests in Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh and various other circles on various grounds, including those of contractual obligations, UPC mismatch and outstanding dues and failed to furnish information with regard to rejections due to contractual obligations.

Regarding Loop Mobiles, TRAI said the company rejected certain porting requests in Mumbai circle under the category of "act of God" and certain on ground of "contractual obligations" and "outstanding payment dues". 

Tata DOCOMO GSM Prepaid Subscribers Can Now Recharge Their Balance Via Twitter

There are several means available these days for prepaid mobile subscribers to recharge their phone balance, right from online recharges and top-up cards to eWallet services. Now, Tata DOCOMO has come up with a unique way to let its GSM users recharge their account balances and activate value added services via tweets and hashtags.

Using the Twittcom service, users can register their numbers using the company's Twitter handle (@tatadocomo), followed by "#reg"(without quotes) and your mobile number. Once done, the subscribers will receive a pin code for verification via SMS.

Once they receive the verification code, customers have to key in "@tatadocomo #code" followed by the pin code via Twitter, after which they will receive a retweet confirming registration.

For activating value-added services through Twitter, the subscriber must type "@tatadocomo #act# <Service><value>". Once active, they will be informed with a tweet confirming that the service is functional. Let's hope this works as well as the company claims.

For Detail Visit www.smsgatewayhub.com

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Corporate Solutions Bulk sms with DND OPEN

Corporate Solutions .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Types of Transactional Accounts Opt - in Account Opt-in Account is an account where in your registered customers / members / employes have to register their mobile numbers on our platform, so that they can start receiving any kind of information which you want to send them, irrespective of the fact whether they are registered in DND(Do Not Disturb) list or not. To optin the customer will have to send a message Start (sender ID) eg; SMSHUB to 9230002323. Once this is done the mobile number will automatically get registered in opt-in data base.   Features • six character Sender ID • 24/7 messaging Service • Ultra high Priorty route • Delivery on DND and Non DND • Excel plugin Template Based Account In a Template Based Account the transactional templates are white listed for the particular account and the message can be sent to DND as well as Non DND numbers. There is a fixed portion in the template and a veriable portion, the fixed portion remains unchanged where as the variable portion can be changed from time to time example of a transational template Dear user you have successfully registered on our website your user name is SMSHUB and password is 25252. ThankYou In this template username SMSHUB and password 25252 are variables which can be changed where as the rest of the template is fixed.   Features • six character Sender ID • 24/7 messaging Service • Ultra high Priorty route • Delivery on DND and Non DND • Excel plugin