Pesky SMSes being routed via Africa

Are you again being hounded by text messages asking you to buy properties, cars, insurance, pizzas, slimming belts and even magic pills to get taller even after registering with the do-not-call directory? Manoj Gairola reports.

Are you again being hounded by text messages asking you to buy properties, cars, insurance, pizzas, slimming belts and even magic pills to get taller even after registering with the do-not-call directory?

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The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has received more than 2,000 complaints from subscribers in the last few days about pesky SMSes despite about 160 million of India's 860 million mobile subscribers having registered with the Trai-administered directory.

Initial enquiries revealed that some of these texts are being sent out from African countries, such as Zambia. Tele-marketers send bulk SMSes from a Zambian operator - not accountable to Trai - which, in turn, delivers it to an Indian operator's network, thus bypassing the barriers Trai had put up.

The regulator has thought of a solution: a termination charge of 5 paise per SMS on each commercial text as a disincentive for operators.

"We are working on it and we will soon take necessary action," JS Sarma, chairman of Trai, told Hindustan Times.