Bharti Airtel quits bulk SMS business
03-09-2010
Other telcos could soon follow
Bharti Airtel has become the first operator to exit the bulk SMS business completely. Quite possibly other operators may follow
The move has been made against the background of TRAI and DoT concern over the problem of intrusive commercial calls and messages.
Sanjay Kapoor, CEO, Bharti Airtel told Times of India newspaper that the company quit the business at the end of July.
According to some estimates, the bulk SMS business in India accounts for revenues of roughly Rs 20 crores every month. "For us, the bulk SMS business case doesn't stack up against our priority for the customer" Kapoor said.
According to Kapoor, "the consumer must turn activist and raise his voice against this menace. While the number of phone calls have reduced since the TRAI issued its regulation against unsolicited commercial communication (UCC), the volume of SMSs has gone up. These come with the prefixes of the service operator that sells these packages. So both the industry bodies and TRAI are aware who the main offenders are."
Kapoor believes that TRAI must impose a termination charge of 5 to 10 paise per SMS to raise costs and discourage these operators from persisting with this business model. He also advocates far greater penalties for calling or messaging consumers who have subscribed to the Do Not Call Registry (DNCR).
Offenders in India are not penalized adequately unlike in the developed world, where the penalties for such offences are prohibitive. For example, in the US, for the first violation, the penalty is around $11,000 per call and this goes up substantially for successive violations.
Based on story in Times of India
Bharti Airtel has become the first operator to exit the bulk SMS business completely. Quite possibly other operators may follow
The move has been made against the background of TRAI and DoT concern over the problem of intrusive commercial calls and messages.
Sanjay Kapoor, CEO, Bharti Airtel told Times of India newspaper that the company quit the business at the end of July.
According to some estimates, the bulk SMS business in India accounts for revenues of roughly Rs 20 crores every month. "For us, the bulk SMS business case doesn't stack up against our priority for the customer" Kapoor said.
According to Kapoor, "the consumer must turn activist and raise his voice against this menace. While the number of phone calls have reduced since the TRAI issued its regulation against unsolicited commercial communication (UCC), the volume of SMSs has gone up. These come with the prefixes of the service operator that sells these packages. So both the industry bodies and TRAI are aware who the main offenders are."
Kapoor believes that TRAI must impose a termination charge of 5 to 10 paise per SMS to raise costs and discourage these operators from persisting with this business model. He also advocates far greater penalties for calling or messaging consumers who have subscribed to the Do Not Call Registry (DNCR).
Offenders in India are not penalized adequately unlike in the developed world, where the penalties for such offences are prohibitive. For example, in the US, for the first violation, the penalty is around $11,000 per call and this goes up substantially for successive violations.
Based on story in Times of India
