Telemarketers could be fined Rs. 2.5 lakhs per call or SMS

Those endless calls and sms-es from telemarketers will soon come with serious punishment for offenders.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has gone public with its recommendations. They include:

• A separate 70 series will be allocated to telemarketers
• All telemarketers will need to compulsorily registered
• No commercial communication to customers from 9pm to 9am
• Telemarketers to be blacklisted on the sixth offence
• Penalty starts at Rs. 25,000 for first offence and builds upto Rs. 2.5 lakhs for the sixth offence
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• Register with your mobile operator for do-not-call or do-call service
• To do this, call or send SMS to 1909
• You will be given a registration number
• Opt for DNC to block all telemarketing calls and SMSes
• Opt for do-call to choose what sort of telemarketing calls you want
• If your choice is not respected, register complaint with service provider