Mobile subscribers will now have to wait for some more time to get relief from unsolicited calls and SMSes, as telecom regulator TRAI has postponed the January deadline to bring an end to such calls to 1st Feb.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in a statement on Tuesday said that it has postponed the January deadline till 1st February due to security-related issues.

“Telemarketers Registration shall commence from January 15, 2011 and other provisions shall come into force from February 1, 2011,” Trai said.

The regulator further added that with regard to security audit of the website and other processes involved, it is necessary to re-determine the dates for implementation of the aforesaid regulations.

On 1st December 2010, the Trai had came out with guidelines on unsolicited telemarketing calls and SMSes, to be implemented from 1st January 2011.

Earlier, Trai in its guidelines, had said a hefty penalty of up to Rs 2.50 lakh will be imposed for violation of the telemarketing guidelines, which could be followed by blocking repeat offenders’ connections.

A different set of numbers starting with ’70’ will be issued to telemarketers to help unregistered subscribers identify commercial calls and decide whether to accept or reject such calls.

Unlike the previous guidelines, which only provided for a ‘Do Not Call’ Registry, the new regulations issued on Tuesday give customers different options to avoid unsolicited calls.

The subscriber can now choose to be listed under the “fully blocked” category — which is akin to the ‘Do Not Call’ Registry — or the “partially blocked” category; in that case he/she will only receive SMSes in the categories chosen by him/her.

Trai has identified seven categories for telemarketing calls, including banking and financial products, real estate, education, health, consumer goods and automobiles, communication and entertainment, tourism and leisure.

TRAI issues consultation paper on telecom gear mftg in India

Telecom regulator TRAI released a consultation paper seeking views of stakeholders for promoting research and development (R&D) and manufacturing of telecom equipment in the country.

The consultation paper issued on Tuesday aims at discussing, debating and finalising measures for promotion of R&D and creation of intellectual property as well as manufacture of telecom equipment and electronic components in India, TRAI said in a statement.

The growth in the telecommunications space has attracted a large demand for telecom equipment and subscriber terminals.

According to reports, the telecom equipment market is over Rs one lakh crore.

However, the domestic telecom equipment manufacturing segment has not been able to keep pace forcing the telecom operators to import most of the equipment required for their networks.

The existing domestic manufacturing of telecom equipment utilises technology developed abroad, resulting in the benefits of sales of such products accruing largely to foreign companies.

“To meet the country’s demand as well as to be able to export, India has to create a synergetic telecom ecosystem and build globally competitive product companies across the telecom value chain,” TRAI said.

TRAI had issued a pre-consultation paper on the same subject in May this year for obtaining views of the industry.

Last date for submitting written comments and counter- comments is 14th January and 21st January 2011, respectively.