It is probably not too long ago that you received a call on your mobile phone from a telemarketer trying to sell you a credit card, loan, site and what not. It is common for mobile phone users to be bombarded by unwanted calls from telemarketing agencies. Most users raved, ranted and filed complaints but to no avail about these problems. Blocking select numbers or restricting access to ones number is virtually impossible in a scenario when banks routinely buy databases from service providers. On the other hand mobile service providers argue that call restriction/ blocking is an exclusive feature and will be available only to a select few, like celebrities, national leaders etc.
But now the problem has become so rampant that several mobile phone subscribers are surrendering their phone connections or opting for a new service provider ever so often that it is reflecting on the revenue and brand image of service providers. This has prompted them to take steps to implement a new technology which will provide this call restriction facility.
The pioneering company to start moving towards offering this facility has been Vodafone Essar which has started offered Call Filtering service. BPL Mobile is just getting testing their software and will put it into practice soon. Other players including the state-owned Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd (MTNL), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and private conglomerate Aircel are also considering offering this service.
We received several queries from subscribers seeking blocking of incoming calls from specific numbers, as these were unwanted calls. These are not telemarketing calls, but calls made by people who know the user. Most of the seekers of this feature were either film stars or cricketers,
says Harit Nagpal, Director (marketing & new business) Vodafone Essar.
Despite Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) launching its Do Not Disturb Registry (DNDR), the harassment to users continues. Owing to repeated complaints Vodafone Essar decided to be the first and rolled out the service.
The major advantage users derive from this service is the ability to activate on any model of handheld. The feature can be activated in both post- and pre-paid plans. Being the pioneer Vodafone Essar is levying a fee of of Rs 99 per month for the service.
BPL Chief Executive Officer S. Subramaniam is in complete agreement with his competitor.
We have received several complaints of repeated harassing calls from certain numbers. Though the proportion of the calls have been very little, we have decided to install a suite to block rogue callers,
says Subramaniam adding that this facility facility will be available to their subscribers very soon.
Speaking about the technical aspects of the service, Subramaniam explained that this works similar to the spam blocking facility on e-mail, but will initially be available only for voice calls. Subscribers can specify a series of telephone numbers from which he does not want to receive calls and give the list to the service provider, who will block all calls from these numbers to the subscriber. One can block about 10-15 numbers. The calling party will get a busy tone or a pre-recorded message.
India’s largest private sector telecom company Reliance Communications has evolved a distinctly different way to block harassing calls. It has a spam controlling software installed in most of its handsets. The users can himself control which numbers he/ she wishes to block.
Most of our handsets come with a pre-loaded spam blocking facility. This enables us to offer the service without charging the customer, any additional fees,
says S P Shukla, president (personal business), Reliance Communications.
Technology comes with its disadvantages too. There are serious queries from loan recovery agencies, direct selling companies and banks. ‘If a loan defaulter blocks all our numbers, we will not be able to get in touch with him? This will make it difficult to recover dues from unscurpulous customers. Even if we use 10 different lines to call defaulters, they can block all of them,’ says a loans recovery executive of a leading multinational bank.
Only time will answer whether the software is truly beneficial to users or it is just another marketing gimmick of cellular service providers.
