Pre-call COVID-19 awareness messages critical in fight against pandemic: Dhotre

New Delhi: The pre-call COVID-19 awareness messages have played a critical role in fight against the pandemic, and TRAI, which received few complaints against these messages, has held that the announcement has been made in public interest, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. The coronavirus-related awareness messages aimed at leveraging pre-caller tunes for maximum public outreach is considered “indispensable” in the fight against COVID-19, and the ministry would consider removing this message at “appropriate time”, Minister of State for Communications and IT, Sanjay Dhotre said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

He was replying to a question on whether COVID-19 awareness messages – that are played before a phone call – are creating inconvenience to mobile users or have outlined their relevance.