Over 36k notices sent for unsolicited commercial calls: Trai

New Delhi: Over 36,000 subscribers have been issued notices, and services to 22,000 users has been disconnected for violating norms put in place to curb pesky calls and SMSes, telecom regulator Trai today said. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had issued The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010, which came into force from 27 September 2011.[caption id="attachment_260345" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Saving the common man from mobile phone atrocities. Reuters"][/caption] Subscribers can register with the National Customer Preference Register (NCPR) to either bar all commercial communication under the Fully Blocked category, or be in the Partially Blocked category, where he/she will receive SMSes in categories chosen.As on 29 March 2012, a total of 161.66 million customers have registered their preference on NCPR, Trai said in a statement.The regulation says that if an unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) originates from a subscriber who is not registered with the regulator as a telemarketer, the service provider shall issue a disconnection notice to that subscriber. On second offence, the service would be disconnected."Accordingly, after implementation of regulations, 36,156 subscribers have been issued notices and 22,769 subscribers have been disconnected," Trai added. In case of telemarketers, in 94 cases, telemarketers have been penalised and four telemarketers have been blacklisted, it said.In case of violation of regulation by registered telemarketers, Trai has recommended penalty ranging between Rs 25,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh for a violation. PTI