TRAI's new SMS Regulations,SMSing Policy Changes

New TRAI policy on Spam SMS is all set to create chaos?

Starting Feb 1st (2011), telecom operators will have to comply to new TRAI guidelines on SMS spam and while the deed is noble, it will create more confusion for consumers.

First, the fineprint.

- From Feb 1, there will only be 2 categories of messages- Transactional (Bank alerts, Railway & Airline alerts, Messages to parents from school etc) and Non transactional or Promotional (all remaining categories except mentioned earlier – like courier alerts, spam, marketing offers, news alerts, subscribed SMS services, intra company or group messages and so on)

- Only transactional messages will have full branded sender id (like TA-HDFCBANK) for others, there will be a 6 digit code (like TA-n12345 or TA-nABCDE), where n is the category of the message and further 5 digits are the unique code given by the telecom operator to each aggregator.

- All non-transactional messages will be compulsorily passed through the NDNC filter.(This means, you will NOT receive the subscribed/ paid news alert or even your courier status message if you are registered with DND) and will be allowed only during 9am to 9pm.

As a consumer, you will now have to open each and every non-transactional message to check on the content. So far, you could easily delete a message just by checking the names, but now ensure that you open each and every sms to see if there is something important.

Moreover, does this mean that you need to unsubscribe from DND to get other relevant & important messages (that TRAI considers non-transactional)?.

What’s your take? What will be the impact of this on bulk sms services? Operators have started testing this regulation – so chances of the implementation being delayed is minimal.

NCPR – Boon or Bust for SMS Pull services?

No doubt unsolicited calls and SMS have been a menace to Indian society for a long time. People from both sides of the table have lobbied extensively with the government to keep their side of the business running. TRAI created the National Do Not Call registry against this Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC), but without enforcement or awareness it just seemed like an half hearted attempt. But now with the new guidelines being laid down by the TRAI (now called NCPR) it appears that the government is indeed serious to curb this menace. Or is it?

NCPR appears to have sharper claws compared to NDNC by making the operator party to the UCC. Operator cannot get away this time by passing the blame on to the aggregator. The fines imposed on a complaint registered are quite steep to make both the operator and aggregator sit up and screen the messages being sent over their network. For Bulk SMSes, it defines two categories, Transactional and Promotional. Transactional SMS, according to their FAQ is any message sent by Financial institution, Railways, Airlines or Educational institutions to it’s registered users. Everything else is termed as Promotional.

It appears that the consumers are indeed going to be happy with this new guideline if implemented and enforced to the dot. But they will also not be able to use any of the pull services that they were used to due to this blanket ban on such communication. Google (SMS number 9 77 33 00000), Facebook (92-FACEBOOK) and our own direction services (90088 90088) rely on consumers sending a SMS, and the service replying to the requested sms. TRAI guideline does not talk about these services, and since the operators are going to term any Bulk SMS as a promotional SMS,

• People registered in NCPR/NDNC will not be able use these services,
• People will lose interactivity as the message now will not come from the virtual 10 digit number and
• No one (even people not registered in NCPR/NDNC) will be able to use the service between 9PM and 9AM.

This guideline is definitely something good against the UCC, but it appears that not a lot of thought has been given while drafting it. TRAI seems unapproachable to any of our queries. It requests Tele-Marketer to register with http://www.nccptrai.gov.in after paying Rs 10,000/- and download the list of NCPR registered users for scrubbing, but the site just provides a CSV file with zero rows in it.

Is this yet another half hearted attempt by the TRAI to address Unsolicited communication? Is this going to kill the nascent industries banking on SMS pull services?

Only time will tell.

Courtesy: plugged.in

a Mail from way2sms.com, a free online SMS service provider informs the same:

Dear User,

As many of you may be aware, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently issued new regulations on the SMS industry in India. These regulations are designed to significantly curb the sending of unsolicited commercial SMSes to consumers. Starting from Feb 1st 2011 every SMS service provider has to adhere to the new TRAI NCPR (National Consumer Preference Register (NCPR)) guidelines. Check www.nccptrai.gov.in for more details on new TRAI guidelines.

Being the Leader in the mobile messaging, Way2sms strictly adheres to TRAI guidelines from feb 1st in order to protect consumer privacy from SMS spammers. As part of implementing new TRAI guidelines, way2sms has worked tirelessly to further upgrade our internal processes, technology, and team to ensure 100% compliance of the new regulations.

In order to adhere to TRAI guidelines way2sms is also changing its messaging policies from 1st of Feb. 2011 onwards.

New Policies

* According to the New TRAI guidelines, No SMS provider is allowed to deliver SMSes to NDNC/NCPR listed mobile numbers. So, Starting from Feb 1st 2011 way2sms does not deliver SMSes to NDNC//NCPR Listed mobile numbers.
* TRAI New guidelines does not allow any service provider to use Numeric mobile number as the sender. So, Starting from Feb 1st, way2sms is changing its Message structure.


- All messages sent via way2sms will be sent as " TD- XXXXX" as the sender. No Longer you can use your mobile number as sender

- Your Mobile number and a 8 letter Nick name will be inserted in your message by default. However you can continue to enjoy 140characters message same as before. We thank you for your cooperation.

Best Wishes
WAY2SMS TEAM.

Link to check if your/your friends' mobile is registered under these services:

http://ndncregistry.gov.in/ndncregistry/search.misc
http://www.nccptrai.gov.in/nccpregistry/search.misc

Kudos to TRAI - Mobile number Portability is here

Mobile Number Portability is here!!!

After a long wait, the mobile number portability (MNP) is finally here. Set for a nationwide roll-out today, MNP will usher in an era of new freedom for mobile subscribers in the country. The technology will allow subscribers to change their mobile service provider without the fear of losing their old mobile number.

This means users will be able to retain their old mobile number even after they decide to change their service provider. And yes, the service is available for both postpaid and prepaid customers and also on both GSM and CDMA platforms.

The consumer-friendly service was mooted over two years ago and was planned to be implemented by the end of 2009. However, implementation had to be deferred several times owing to reasons ranging from lack of preparedness of operators to delay in appointment of an agency to oversee MNP execution.

As per the eligibility criteria, there should not be any outstanding payment by way of pending bills before customers can apply for availing of MNP services, the Department of Telecom (DoT) said.

It also said that the mobile number sought to be ported should not be subjudice and also there should not be pending request for change of ownership of the mobile number.

The DoT has claimed that the entire process of switching operators would take a maximum of seven days and subscribers may face disruption of services for about two hours during that period.

"The maximum time period for porting would become seven working days except in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East licensed service areas, wherein it would be 15 working days," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in a statement.

Switch by high spending, post-paid subscribers, business subscribers could start another round of price war among operators. High-end users make up 5 per cent of the total subscriber base but generate around 20 per cent of revenue.

India has more than 700 million subscribers across the country with nearly 10 operators in each circle.

Customers willing to exercise the option of changing their service provider without change of number will have to follow the following simple steps.

Send an SMS to 1900 in following format: PORT - eg. PORT 9999999999.

You will get an SMS reply that contains a unique porting code from the existing service provider.(This code is valid only for a few days, and one must apply again if it expires.)

The customer can then make an application in the prescribed form (SMS to the preferred operator quoting the unique code) mentioning the code to the selected new service provider for porting of number.

Your existing operator will check with new operator & if there are no dues then approval will be given for porting.

You will get an SMS on the time and date when porting will take place. Rules mandate that process be completed within 4 days of applying. However a period of seven days has been prescribed for completion of porting (transfer) of the mobile number to the network of the new service provider.

After porting is complete, wait for an SMS from your new operator confirming the switch. Your phone may be dead for about 2 hours when the porting takes place.

Excerpts from the TRAI direction for the mobile service providers released on 10 Feb 2010:

A mechanism for the purpose of receiving Short Message Service messages from its subscribers requesting for a unique porting code which shall provide:-

(i) a Unique Porting Code consisting of 8 characters of which the first two shall be alphabets that denote the service provider code and service area code which have been specified by the Authority (for example: TD for Tata Teleservices Ltd in Delhi service area) and the remaining 6 characters shall contain 1 to 9, A-N & P-Z only, and small letters and the alphabet ‘O’ shall not be allowed;

(ii) the Unique porting Code allocated to a subscriber shall be valid for a period of fifteen days from the date of request or such time till the number is ported out, whichever is earlier, for all service areas except Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East licensed areas where the validity for the Unique Porting Code allocated to a subscriber shall be valid for a period of thirty days from the date of request or till such time the number is ported out, which ever is earlier, irrespective of. number of requests the subscriber makes; and,

(iii) the Short Message Service (SMS) text for requesting Unique Porting Code by a subscriber shall be the word ‘PORT’ followed by a space followed by the ten digit mobile number which is to be ported which shall be case insensitive. (i.e. it can be port or Port etc.) and in case the subscriber’s Caller Line Identification does not match with the ten digit mobile number, Unique Porting Code shall not be allotted but a message shall be generated to inform such subscriber that the Caller Line Identification does not match with the mobile number.

Courtesy: Times of India, NDTV, TRAI.GOV.IN