The Telecom Regulatory Authority has extended the deadline to have separate phone numbers for tele-marketers by three weeks.
It extended the deadline to March 21 due to delays by the Department of Telecom in alloting a new number series to landline companies.
“The number series for fixed network are still not allocated by DoT. The matter has been taken up on urgent basis to allocate number series to telemarketers for fixed network,” it said.
According to TRAI’s December directive, all phone-marketing companies had to use phone numbers starting with ‘140’. While mobile companies have finished allocating such numbers, landline companies such as BSNL and MTNL are yet to do so.
TRAI has also established a Do Not Call registry which allowed subscribers to join a select club of consumers who would not be disturbed by telemarketers. It also explored the option of establishing a Do Call registry after the Do Not Call registry failed to effectively check ‘spam’ calls. However, the domestic call centre industry convinced the regulator to look at the option of having a separate number series for marketing calls.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had issued “The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010” on 1st December 2010.
As per the provisions of regulations, the telemarketer’s registration has started from 15th January, 2011 and Customer preference registrations has started from 10th February 2011. Other operational provisions were required to be implemented from 1st March, 2011.