FAQs
1.
what are the new regulations of NDNC launched by TRAI on 1st Dec’2010?
The regulations laid by TRAI on 1st Dec’2010 are “THE TELECOM COMMERCIAL COMMUNICATIONS CUSTOMER
PREFERENCE REGULATIONS, 2010“.
2.
what is meant by commercial communication?
“Commercial Communication” means any message, voice or SMS, made through
telecommunications service, which is transmitted for the purpose of informing about, or soliciting or promoting any
commercial transaction in relation to goods, investment or services.
3.
what is Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC)?
“Unsolicited Commercial Communication” means any commercial communication which a
subscriber opts not to receive but does not include,
(i) any transactional message; or
(ii) any message transmitted on the directions of central government or state government or agencies authorized by it.
4.
which messages are categorized as transactional messages?
“Transactional message” means an SMS containing only—
(i)
information sent to its customer(s) by the bank or financial institution or insurance company or credit card company
or access provider pertaining to the account of that customer(s);
(ii)
information given by airlines or Indian railways or its authorized agencies to its passengers regarding travel
schedules, ticket booking and reservation;
(iii) information from a registered educational institution to parents or guardians of its students;
(iv) any other message as may be specified by the authority, from time to time as “transactional message”
5.
which messages are categorized as promotional messages?
“Promotional message” means message containing promotional material or advertisement of a product or service.
6.
what is the National Customer Preference Register (NCPR)?
“National Customer Preference Register” means a national database containing a list of the telephone numbers of all
subscribers who have registered their preferences regarding receipt of commercial communications.
7.
what is National Telemarketers Register?
“National Telemarketers Register” means a national database containing details of telemarketers registered with the
authority.
8.
who is a telemarketer?
“Telemarketer” means a person or legal entity engaged in the activity of transmission of commercial communications.
9.
what is the difference between the old NDNC regulations and the new regulations? There are many changes in the new
regulations. For details, you can visit TRAI website and read the complete regulations, which is called TCCCPR, 2010. The
highlights are as below:
(i)
Commercial communication resources will start from 140XX number series instead of current number series.
10.
ii.
Higher penalties like 25,000 (for first violation), 75,000 (for second violation), 80,000 (for third violation), 1,20,000
(for fourth violation), 1,50,000 (for fifth violation) and 2,50,000 (for sixth violation).
iii.
Any telemarketer/telemarketer organization touching the threshold of 6 violations across nation will be blacklisted by
TRAI for 2 years.
what will happen to my earlier registration with TRAI for telemarketing activities? Existing telemarketers (already registered with
the TERM cell of Department of
Telecommunications) have to apply a fresh for re-registration.
11.
what is the fee for new registration?
All new telemarketers will have to pay Rs 5,000/- as registration fee.
12.
how can i register?
Please visit URL www.nccptrai.gov.in and fill in the online application form for registration as telemarketer. On successful
submission of application form, a unique application number will be generated by National Telemarketer Register (NTR) and
username & password will be provided. There are options of online & offline payment, after making the payment you may
take a printout of registration form indicating the unique registration number and details of payment and reach out to the
airtel to take telemarketing resources.
13.
what is the security deposit amount & and how much?
The security deposit is the refundable security deposit of Rs. 50,000/-, which will be used by access provider for deducting the
penalty amount as against the violations, if any.
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18.
what is the additional security deposit amount & and how much?
Additional security deposit is an amount which every telemarketer, against whom violations have been reported, will have to
deposit with the access provider. On receipt of 1st violation, telemarketer has to submit additional security deposit of Rs.
1,00,000; on receipt of 2nd violation, telemarketer has to submit additional security deposit of Rs. 1,50,000/- and on receipt of
3rd violation, an additional security deposit of Rs. 4,00,000/- has to be deposited with the access provider.
for how much time this registration will be valid?
The registration will be valid for 5 years from the date of application.
what if i do not want to register but will carry on telemarketing activity?
If any violations are reported by NCPR (National Customer Preference Register) registered customers, the violating number will be
treated as un-registered telemarketing number and will be disconnected, along with any other telecom resources that the
Unregistered telemarketing customer would have subscribed for, across service providers, followed by Blacklisting across industry for
two years.
how will i get the resources for telemarketing with 140XX series?
You will have to contact the access provider’s registration desk after completing the online registration application. The
registration desk details are listed on the airtel website (www.airtel.in).
do i have to take 140XX series for transactional activities as well?
No, 140XX series is only for commercial communications, over voice call.
can we use same resources with 140XX series for both telemarketing & service/transactional communications?
19.
No, separate telecom resources needs to be used for telemarketing and transactional/service communications. Resource with
140XX series should only be used for telemarketing communications, otherwise transactional/service communication coming
from 140XX series will also be considered as telemarketing communication and will attract penalization.
20.
which are the resources that i can use for transactional/service communication? Resources for transactional/service
communication will be the same which are being used by you at present but are required to be declared as such with the
access provider.
21.
how much is the penalty for violations?
Rs. 25,000 (for first violation), Rs. 75,000 (for second violation), Rs. 80,000 (for third violation), Rs. 1,20,000 (for fourth
violation), Rs. 1,50,000 (for fifth violation) and Rs. 2,50,000 (for sixth violation).
22.
what kind of agreement needs to be signed?
As per TRAI guidelines, every telemarketing organization has to sign separate agreements with the access provider (i) for
telemarketing communications, and (ii) for transactional communications. These agreements will be provided to you by
airtel and will be signed after you complete the online registration and payment formalities and reach out to airtel
registration Desk.
No resources will be activated unless these agreements are signed.
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25.
what is blacklisting?
All the resources used by the telemarketer across India will be disconnected within 24 hours of blacklisting. The blacklisting will
happen if telemarketer:
a.
fails to furnish the additional security amount as agreed in the agreement entered into with the
originating access provider; or
b.
upon service of the sixth notice in a calendar year by any access provider on such telemarketer for
sending unsolicited commercial communication.
will the blacklisting be across india for all the resources used by the telemarketing organization?
Yes
will the registration be location wise or company wise? we have 6 locations over all india, do we have to register 6 times or
only once?
Telemarketer registers on the National Telemarketer Registry, which will club resources listed under unique PAN/TAN
numbers into a single application nationwide, across all service providers used. Hence different offices/branches/subdivisions across the same entity (identified by the same PAN/TAN) need not create separate applications/registrations.
26.
will incoming facility be available on transactional resources?
Telecom resources provided for sending transactional message will not have facility for receiving incoming call or SMS.
However, those for making outgoing transactional calls may have incoming call or sms facility.
27.
will incoming facility be available on promotional/telemarketing resources?
Telecom resources provided to a telemarketer for making voice calls will not have facility for receiving incoming call or
Incoming/outgoing SMS. Telemarketing resources for SMS will not have incoming SMS facility.
28.
how the scrubbing of data will be done?
•
Every registered telemarketer shall be allowed to download NCPR (National Customer Preference Register) data from
website www.nccptrai.gov.in.
•
The data will be available on NCPR for download by telemarketers from 0700 hrs to 1300 hrs on every Tuesday and
Friday respectively.
29.
for how many days the same scrubbed data can be used?
The data downloaded on Tuesday will be operational from 0000 hrs of Wednesday to 2359 hrs of Friday and the data downloaded
on Friday will be operational from 0000 hrs of Saturday to 2359 hrs of Tuesday
30.
what is meant by header?
Header means alpha numeric identifier of commercial and transactional SMS.
31.
what are the different types of headers in case of SMS?
(i) Header for promotional message
XY-NZZZZZ
where X stands for the code allotted to the access provider;
Y stands for the service area;
N is the serial number (1-7) of partially blocked category; indicating the nature of product/services being promoted.
ZZZZZ indicates five digits allocated to particular telemarketer by an access provider.
(ii) Header for transactional message
XY-ZZZZZZ
where X stands for the code allotted to the access provider;
Y stands for the service area;
ZZZZZZ indicates six alphabets for company or organization sending transactional SMS.
32.
what is partial blocked preference scenario, i want to understand.
Partially blocked means stoppage of all commercial communications, except SMS in respect of category or categories of
preference indicated by the subscriber/customer. Now, telemarketers have to send specific category of SMS (which
customer has opted for receiving SMS) to customers. E.g. If customer has opted for receiving only finance related SMS and
no other category of SMS, then telemarketer has to send only finance related SMS to customers and if telemarketer will
send any other category of SMS, that will be treated as violation.
33.
what are categories of preference options for NCPR registered customers?
Following preferences under partially blocked categories are available to a customer:
(1) Banking/Insurance/Financial products/Credit cards,
(2) Real estate,
(3) Education,
(4) Health,
(5) Consumer goods and automobiles,
(6) airtel product & services/Communication/Broadcasting/Entertainment/IT,
(7) Tourism and Leisure.
Telemarketer has to make sure that he scrubs his data in a timely and fail-safe manner and sends SMS according to the
categories opted by the customer.