The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a new directive to prevent pesky marketing SMS. They restricted mobile users from sending more than 100 SMS / day per SIM starting 27th September 2011, and later increased the SMS limit to 200 last November. Now they have announced that the limit would be reduced to 100 SMS per day per SMS for customers using SMS packs, but a minimum amount of 50 paise per SMS would be charged for SMS beyond that limit. TRAI has asked the operators to implement this within fifteen days.
Unregistered telemarketers cannot send more than 200 commercial SMSs within 1 hour with a similar signature, but consumers and registered telemarketers are exempted from sending non-commercial SMS. This new regulation is to prevent unregistered telemarketers from misusing SMS packs or tariff plans for sending bulk promotional SMS.
TRAI has also asked the operators to send SMS to all the customers advising them not to use their number for sending commercial SMS, and also take a written consent in the Customer Acquisition Form that they would not use the number for sending such SMS.