Promotional SMS, Calls Only If People Want: PTA Directs Telcos

A Good move by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and Cabinet Division is seen, when they sent a written communication to the Senate of Pakistan that SMS messages comprising promotional and advertisement contents that are sent through telecom systems to mobile subscribers without their consent fall under the category of ‘unsolicited’ communication.

Promotional SMS and calls shall be made to only those mobile numbers that have given their consent to receive such SMS and calls, and all other such SMS shall be considered asunsolicited, hence illegal.
Mobile subscriptions involved in sending promotional SMS without the permission of the recipient party are blocked within 24 hours of the receipt of complaint.

SMS or messages comprising of all other contents besides promotional broadcast including harassing, malicious, anti-state etc that are sent through telecom systems to mobile subscribers without their consent fall under the category of ‘obnoxious’communication.

In legal term, unsolicited calls or messages are categorised as a communication that is made to a telecom device, which usually contain marketing materials without the express consent of the recipient. In a more practical sense, subject SMS are sent in bulk at the same time from one mobile subscription to a large number of mobile subscriptions.

The matter of unsolicited communication came into the knowledge of the authority approximately five years ago through analysis of consumer complaints. Taking cognisance of the fact, the authority immediately started the consultative process for promulgation of regulations with an aim to provide regulatory framework for controlling the menace.

Regulations to control unsolicited communication:

Protection from Spam, Unsolicited, Fraudulent and Obnoxious Communication Regulations, 2009 were promulgated, pursuant to which regulatory safeguards, redressal mechanisms and technical measures were established by the PTA to control unsolicited communication. Amendments have also been drafted in the subject regulations in consultation with all stakeholders that shall be notified shortly.

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to control Unsolicited Communication Under above stated regulations, SOPs have also been notified by the Authority in 2009 in order to define clear cut mechanism in the form of obligations placed upon the licensed telecom to tackle the menace of unsolicited communication

Redressal measures:

As per above stated regulations, following are the key features of the redressal mechanisms in order to control unsolicited SMS or messages:

1. All telemarketers need to have valid permission from PTA for sending SMS to only those subscribers that have given their explicit permission to receive marketing SMS and calls.
2. All such SMS and calls shall be sent through PTA approved short codes only.
3. Promotional SMS and calls shall be made to only those mobile numbers that have given their consent to receive such SMS and calls.
4. All other such SMS shall be considered as unsolicited, hence illegal.
5. All telecom operators are required to establish procedures at their respective end to accept customers’ request for addition and deletion of his or her telephone subscription from the register that is meant to maintain such requests from mobile users in accordance with the minimum requirements provided in the regulations.
6. The said register is called Do Not Call Register (DNCR). A common short code 3627 (DNCR) has also been issued by PTA upon which subscribers can send their requests.

All mobile operators have installed state-of-the-art anti-spam filters at their respective networks that block all those SMS and mobile subscriptions that are involved in generation of one way bulk WS—based on high frequency. Such blocking is carried out both live as well as pursuant to off line analysis of SMS traffic as per specifically laid procedure approved by PTA.

Besides regular method of lodging complaint with mobile operators as well as PTA, mobile users that are facing the issue of receipt of unsolicited communication can also report the same through 9000 Spam Reporting Mechanism established by PTA. In this regard, a dedicated common short code (9000) has been exclusively made available to consumers for reporting spam/undesired marketing SMS. The detailed working of the reporting mechanism is placed at Annex-C for ready reference please.

Media awareness campaigns:

PTA strongly believes that the key towards consumer activism is through creating awareness among the consumers regarding their telecom rights as well as knowledge about the contacts and procedures to lodge complaints and grievances. PTA regularly run media campaign for the awareness of telecom users on unsolicited communication. In this regard, advertisement run by PTA for awareness of general public on the issue are the same have also been run on Radio and TV.

Current status:

Owing to the concerted efforts of PTA and licensed operators, for the year 2012, authority only received 192 complaints from a mobile subscriber base of 120 million consumers on the issue of unsolicited communication. PTA is striving hard to ensure that the matter is redressed in line with best international practices.