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Promotional SMS: a pesky way to sell anything
By siliconindia
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Saturday, 12 July 2008, 00:00 IST
Bangalore: Pesky promotional messages are jamming mobile users' inboxes in greater numbers than ever before. No matter whether you are attending a funeral ceremony or cheering up watching a football match, SMSes will beep in, peddling everything from astrology, quizzes and 'free gifts'. Sometimes these irritants may wake you wake you up from a deep sleep in the early morning, reported The Times of India.
S K Virmani of Delhi-based National Consumer Helpline says telemarketers may be relying on SMSes because apart from being 'the cheapest mode of communication', most consumers don't complain on them. They remain unaware that the National Do Not Call (NDNC) registry applies to SMSes as well.
According to NDNC registry "any message, through telecommunications service, which is transmitted for the purpose of informing about, or soliciting or promoting any commercial transaction in relation to goods, investments or services which a subscriber opts not to receive," could be deemed as unsolicited commercial communication.
Like many cellphone users, Pritee Shah of Ahmedabad's Consumer Education and Research Centre too has received 'absurd' SMSes promising her a candle-light dinner and rock band tickets. "When I verbally complained to my service provider, I was informed, via an SMS, that my complaint had been registered and the SMSes would stop. But they continue to clutter my inbox."
An official at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) says such SMSes and calls must be coming from unregistered telemarketing companies. "Registered marketing companies are mostly quite big. They won't take the risk because they could get penalised. Their licences could be revoked and their telephones disconnected."
But a recent Consumer Voice survey of cellphone users across the four metros has thrown up a surprising result. Over 40 percent users in Mumbai and Chennai actually prefer to receive marketing calls. Only 6.9 percent of pre-paid and 7.4 percent of post-paid subscribers reported complaining against them. Out of this minuscule number, 60 percent of prepaid and 55 percent of post-paid subscribers said the calls stopped after their request.
