New Delhi: CUTS International, a leading economic policy research and advocacy group, has strongly supported Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's recommendation to penalise mobile operators for unwanted calls to subscribers.

"In spite of registering for do not call facility, consumers continue to be harassed by tele-marketers," CUTS Secretary General Pradeep S Mehta said in a statement. A snap survey done by CUTS in New Delhi and Jaipur, showed that over half the mobile customers who have registered for do not call continue are bombarded by cheap loan offers, life insurance, credit cards from companies. This is other than text messages of tele-marketers, which too are covered under the ban, he said.

"The claim made by operators that they are not responsible for such calls is hogwash, because the subscriber data is sold by them to telemarketers and service providers."

The callers are not even properly trained by the telemarketers to ask for permission to speak, he said. In a letter to TRAI, CUTS has demanded that accounts of mobile operators be examined for income on sale of subscriber data, he said.

"The only issue raised by the operators which can be supported by consumer groups is that telemarketers need to be disciplined, but that does not mean that operators have no liability," Mehta said, adding that both are jointly responsible and TRAI should take some drastic measures including levying punitive damages on the operators.

Source : PTI