NEW DELHI: At a time when telecom service providers are asking for an extension of the deadline for implementing the regulator’s recommendation to curb pesky calls, Trai chairman RS Sharma on Tuesday said that the December deadline was reasonable.
"We have already given the time and explained that it is a win-win situation for consumers, telecom companies, and the telemarketers. I think it is something that is doable and we have given a very realistic timeline to implement,” Sharma said.
Industry body COAI had last week said that tailoring of systems and use of blockchain technology to curb pesky calls would involve Rs 200-400 crore in investment and will take 18 months to roll out. Sharma said that the recommendation issued by them had come after consulting every stakeholder for over one year and if someone was aggrieved by it, there were appropriate legal forums to deal with it.
The problem of unsolicited commercial calls was a serious one, Sharma said, adding that there was a need to protect one billion telephone users from fraud, which also results in a monetary loss.
The Trai on Tuesday also integrated its Do Not Call (DND) 2.0 and MyCall apps with the Unified Mobile Application for New-Age Governance (UMANG) platform to expand its effort to give consumers the right to refuse unsolicited commercial calls.
Currently, Umang has over 50 lakh downloads and Trai apps individually have more than 4 lakh downloads. While the DND service can be availed of by Android users, iPhone’s operating system is yet to support the app. iPhone maker Apple has cited privacy of customers as a reason to not allow the app on its app store. However, sources now say that a solution might be in the offing for users of the iPhone.
Difficult to block individual apps such as Facebook & WhatsApp, says COAI
Reacting to the option explored by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to block social media platforms WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, among others, in case there is a threat to national security and public order, the DG of COAI, Rajan S. Mathews said that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for telecom operators to block individual mobile applications as asked for by the DoT.