BSNL withdraws petition in TDSAT against Trai on pesky calls

State-owned BSNL today withdrew its petition from telecom tribunal TDSAT against Trai, the sectoral regulator, challenging its regulation to curb unsolicited commercial calls.

State-owned BSNL today withdrew its petition from telecom tribunal TDSAT against Trai, the sectoral regulator, challenging its regulation to curb unsolicited commercial calls.

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BSNL had challenged Trai regulation on Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC), saying that it did not fall in the regulator's jurisdiction.

However, BSNL withdrew the petition after the matter was called for hearing. BSNL counsel, however, did not mention any reason for withdrawing the petition. The Counsel informed that on the instruction of the PSU, the matter was being withdrawn. Trai had proposed various measures, including a hefty penalty of up to Rs 2.50 lakh on telemarketing firms for breaching UCC rules.

The new guidelines, which were to take effect from January 1, have been deferred. BSNL had contended that Trai had no jurisdiction to issue regulation on UCC and as per the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951, this power was vested with the Department of Telecom (DoT). The PSU requested quashing of the regulation as Trai had tried to 'usurp' DoT's domain. It said Trai has also prescribed equipment for the implementation of the UCC notification, which was not within its jurisdiction.

Subscribers may choose to be under the 'Fully Blocked' category, which is akin to the 'Do Not Call Registry', or opt for the 'Partially Blocked' category, under which they receive SMSes for the items chosen by them.