Telcos should run media campaigns to check pesky calls, messages: Trai

Kolkata: The sector regulator has directed all phone companies to run media campaigns to boost awareness levels among mobile users on ways to register their consent/preferences in case of pesky calls and text messages, and also create a facility for lodging complaints if the menace persists.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), in a directive issued late Monday night, said telcos “need to run media campaigns in at least two leading national newspapers to make customers aware of measures they need to take to curb the menace of unsolicited commercial communications,” adding that this needs to be done within 15 days of the issue of this direction.

Telcos, it said, would also “need to share details with mobile users of the relevant web portal/apps created” in their upcoming media campaign on ways to rein in pesky calls and text messages.