Just as I start off on this post, there goes the familiar sms beep on my phone for the thirty-fifth time today..is it. It very well could be as I have already lost count of the number texts that I received today or for that matter any other day. It has become a nuisance.
I do not know if we can call this an invasion of privacy, because maybe I do not think we are left with any. I seriously do not know why such extensive telemarketing us required to sell homes, sauna belts, jyotish predictions predictions you name most unwanted things and you have it.
To cut the long story short, whoever came up with this mass market/bulk sms idea provided a stroke of genius for lots of people. It was a welcome relief to the ailing telecom companies who are trying to get a foothold in the market. They need revenue from somewhere right ? Hence the bulk sms business. I you have ever noticed closely, the sms'es on your phone come with a contact name written as AD-xxx TM-yyy. This AD or TM will help you recognize the operator who is sending the bulk sms. The biggest offender in this regard is Tata Mobile. With the small/non-existent customer base, they have had to move to the bulk sms business to look for revenues.
So let us consider a situation, where you are traveling abroad and you have an international roaming SIM card activated. In the middle of your Nile cruise, you might be interrupted by someone selling houses on the Greater Noida expressway and you are set back by a cool 30 bucks as soon as you recieve the SMS. On an average a user in the NCR region recieves atleast 10 such sms'es in day. That translates to a whooping 300 bucks to your monthly bill multiplied by the number of days that you are travelling.
How do we tackle this ? Mr J.S.Sarma the current TRAI chief has eluded the question for the time he has been in charge. I see only one way to tackle this problem that is to fine the operators for each such bulk sms sent. They could possibly charge the operator 5 bucks per sms recieved. In general they could end up pay fines to the tune of Rs 10000 atleast per sms. Maybe only then would they understand the unnecessary pain and irritation these people cause.
They have nullified the concept of a text. Now when I recieve a text, I generally assume that it is junk and someone is trying to sell me something that I do not need. As a result I miss out on texts which are important every now and then.
I believe that the DND(Do Not Disturb) service which I believe is a filter that is controlled by TRAI is slowing getting more and more effective. Atleast with respect to the tele-marketing calls that we keep recieving selling life insurance and what not. But there is still some way to go wrt the bulk/marketing sms'es.
I read a few days in one of the dailies that Bharti has announced a date for exiting the bulk sms business. I just hope that is the beginning of the end....
No comments:
Post a Comment