National Customer Preference Register(NCPR)

On December 1^st 2010, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India took a step forward to curb unsolicited commercial communications to Indian consumers from telemarketers using medium such as voice or Short Messaging Service (SMS). The regulation mandates telemarketers to register with TRAI in order to facilitate scrubbing of Do Not Call Registered numbers in India. India has more than 700 million mobile subscribers but only 10-15% is registered with TRAI. This leaves a huge task for TRAI to cover all the users PAN India under National Customer Register Preferences list.

A few terms as described by TRAI and the confusion they create

Telemarketer – “Telemarketer” means a person or legal entity engaged in the activity of transmission of commercial communications.

Unsolicited Commercial Communication–“Unsolicited Commercial Communication” means any commercial communication which a subscriber opts not to receive but does not include, —-

(i) Any transactional message; or

(ii) Any message transmitted on the directions of central Government or State Government or agencies authorized by it

Telemarketer term has been used broadly by TRAI to identify any company which uses voice calls and Short Messages Service (SMS) to inform, solicit commercial transactions to subscribers. The main confusion which arises is the acceptance by Enterprises to identify themselves as Telemarketers for using SMS service for transactional and promotional purpose. Many entities have raised questions at the definition of Telemarketer by TRAI.

Commercial communication in Enterprise Messaging industry includes any communication which helps companies promote their products, services etc. With Enterprise applications based on SMS which help to automate processes within an organization, the term commercial communications does not attend to multifarious usage of SMS in any industry.

As the new regulation mandates enterprises to register online with TRAI and enter into an agreement with telecom operators/service providers by having a refundable security deposit as defined by TRAI. The deposit is to be used against any violation in future which operators would charge to enterprises for sending messages to National Customer Preference Registered numbers. The amount to be charged against first complaint has been increased from INR 500 earlier to INR 25,000 and INR 75,000 for subsequent complains. The amount increases to INR 250,000 for fifth complain and the service for the Enterprise is blocked after six complains. Enterprises can enter into two separate agreements based on the form of commercial communications (both voice calls and SMS) employed to reach subscribers.  The time duration for sending commercial communications has also been restricted between 9AM to 9PM.

For Subscribers (How to register)

Subscriber can register by three ways, either by sending SMS to 1909 (E.g. SMS < 0> to 1909) and opting for the options described under 0 to 7, with 0 being opting for fully blocked category (would receive only transaction messages), 1 to 7 categories have been counted under partial blocked condition and would receive messages from the below mentioned sectors based on the options selected while registering.

1 is for BFSI domain, customer opting for this category would receive only Banking and financial related information and promotional messages.

2 is for real estate sector

3 for Education sector

4 for Health sector

5 for Consumer Goods and Automobiles

6 for Communication, Entertainment, IT and Broadcasting

7 for Tourism and Leisure

Alternatively, subscribers can call the customer care of respective operators and also register for NCPR. Telecom subscribers can also call 1909 to register through Interactive Voice Response System.

How to identify a Transaction and promotional message

The new regulation segregate messages as Transaction and Promotional. Each transaction message would have a sender id. of six characters. For example XY-ABCDEF, where X is the code for telecom operator, Y is the telecom circle and ABCDEF is the sender id. as opted by Enterprises with their service providers.

For any Promotional message, the Sender id. Would be alphanumeric as XY-(0-7) ABCDE, where X is the code for telecom operator, Y is Telecom circle, (0-7) is the code for various sectors, and ABCDE is the five character sender id.

Implications for Enterprises and subscribers

• Control in number of SMS received by the end-user, if the subscriber is registered under fully blocked category
• There is no proper categorization for Enterprises to register and define the transaction messages if the purpose is to communicate internally with employees or is a system critical message.
• All telecom subscribers registered prior to March 1^st 2011(new date for launch of the service) with TRAI would automatically be moved to fully blocked category.
• Prevention of misuse of sender id. which had moved from alphabetical to numeric over a period of time creating confusion over the sender’s identity.
• As TRAI defines the time duration(9AM to 9PM) for sending messages, the SMS service providers and aggregators (service provider connected to more than one telecom operators for purchasing SMS and selling to Enterprises), the number of messages pushed is bound to get reduced hence less nuisance for subscribers.

As TRAI gears up for launch of service from March 1^st 2011, after postponing the same twice, many more implications and amendments would certainly follow in months to come. The regulation creates confusion among Enterprises involved in using messaging services for critical and process oriented communications leaving enough scope for Telecom operators to go back to TRAI and ask for amendments.

For any more clarifications please drop in your comments, and I would revert with an answer.

Unsolicited Commercial Communications(UCC)

Hello Sir, this is …………. Calling from …………….. Bank. We have a very nice offer for you on our credit card.

How many times exactly do we all receive such calls these days? Well, it is difficult to count exactly but the pain such calls leaves in the middle of any meeting is not to be forgotten. These pesky calls and messages from companies that we receive everyday make us abhor the caller, the brand and entire company altogether based on the frequency of these Unsolicited Commercials Communications (UCC). In the 21^st century, mobile phones have emerged as one of the greatest tool of communication and have greatly affected marketing initiatives of the company. SMS based marketing, telemarketing etc. are the end results of these UCC’s which we encounter everyday in life. After working in the telecommunication domain for almost 2 years now, I am able to appreciate the nature of these communications.

SMS based marketing are mostly of A2P nature (Application to Peer), where a list of mobile numbers are uploaded and send button is clicked on the URL based applications. The moment we receive a message, we see “XY-ABCD” on the sender panel, where X represents the Telecom operator (TATA, Vodafone etc.), Y is the telecom circle (Mumbai, Maharashtra & Goa etc.), ABCD represents the “Sender id.” which is generally of 8 digits as per TRAI’s regulations. The sender id’s can be alphanumeric or numeric too, depending upon the choice of the customer (in a B2B set up).

The recent regulation from TRAI prevents companies to send messages and does not allow telemarketers to pester consumers with untimely calls, provided the consumer’s number is registered with the National Do Not Call (NDNC) Registry. This move is a great welcome by consumers, who have been facing the burnt of pesky calls and messages off and on.  The entire database at present available with the companies would be filtered by the operator removing the messages submitted against NDNC registered numbers and then would be delivered on the handsets. This would prevent unsolicited messages to reach our handsets. Telemarketers have been asked to subscribe to a number starting with “70…” series, which would differentiate them from other calls and put a control on them. The timings for the calls have been defined between 9 AM to 9PM.

Although the same has been received with mixed reaction from the companies, and telecom operators, this move would certainly bring down the number of annoying calls that we receive everyday on our handsets for the time-being.

Watch out for Impact of UCC on marketing initiatives of companies in my next post.

Me, my phone and musings…….

I never thought “Bricks” could be so smart, but they proved me wrong. Do you want to know the answer how a brick turns Smart, ask your phone? Seven years ago, when I first bought a Nokia handset(without antenna), I was so intrigued by its features, that I researched on the history of mobile phones, only to learn that earlier mobile phones were addressed as “bricks” due to their unique brick like dimensions. I remember, college life rotated around cell phones in demand and they attracted student like magnets. Ah, that feeling of owning a phone from Nokia (Apple and Blackberry were not known then in India). As my phone lacked the vibration feature, I remember rushing to the Nokia priority center to enquire if I can get that feature installed on my phone, as it was easy to get call alerts when attending classes on campus. The most happening and smartest of the phone in my college at that time was NOKIA 3100, sturdy by looks, draped in blue it was a killer instrument to own in my college. As time rolled, I graduated and went on to do an MBA.

Technology had advanced more by that time and I was the happiest to purchase my first color phone from Motorola. I used to associate myself with all Motorola users who made the company ranked no. 2 in the world. I could listen to FM radio; activate GSM service at some cost, and above all download polyphonic ringtones.  I owned that Motorola model for almost 3 years, before I put my hands on the smart technology enabled phones. It really hurts when someone loses your dearest phone, and that is exactly what happened to my Motorola. I gave my dearest phone, my first color phone to a needy person to use for a time-being, only to learn after a week that the person has lost it. It was painful depart for me, as we as humans tend to develop penchant towards everything, whether it is other human beings or a technology or a machine.

One day, intrigued to own a trendy handset, during lunch time of office hour, I rushed to the nearest E zone only own an HTC Smart phone. What features! Full touch screen phone which I still own, apart from a Blackberry. I am not a gadget freak but applications on my phone have always been happening. I keep doing research on new apps which make life simple for me and have laid my hands on some really nice applications on Smart phones. HTC empowered me to carry chat application wherever I travel, and it was the best for me to stay connected with my friends while on travel. I activated the best GSM plan to browse internet and download apps on the phone. I used my phone to pay bills, to book tickets, all this through an application. Isn’t that SMART? For me, it is.

Are the Smart phones really Smart? Well, not all phones are Smart enough but a few of them are and applications serve as life for these Smart phones. The evolution of phones in my life has changed with my preferences for them and I have evaluated new brands every time, I purchase a new phone.  I read recently that in India almost everyone would own a Smart phone by 2015. Imagine the market for applications. Off late, as Apple and Blackberry has entered Indian market and uprooted conventional brands like NOKIA, I am hooked on to my Blackberry now. My HTC phone has become a thing of the past, as amazing application on Blackberry allow me to own awesome features on my handheld. The most striking feature which I enjoy on Blackberry is the ease to type, I can use my both hands to type letters and it makes work fast and looks trendy too. Sometimes, I go contemplative and question myself “How these gadgets become a part of our life?” and we value them as a priced possession. I happen to see one advertisement from Telenor which was made for its Japanese market and I was moved. The entire plot of the advertisement revolved around handsets and their features, people being glued to them forgetting friend’s, near one’s and then there is a realization of this and we gain consciousness to return to our world of feelings, likeness, friendship and love.

As technology would advance new models of phone would definitely hit market and I would as well try to explore new models like Blackberry Torch and Apple’s 4G iPhone, as I am confused to choose between them but the most important thing which would remain around these gadgets is our feeling for them. There are a few people who change their phones every month and a phone is just another gadget for them but for a user like me, who uses a phone for at least 2 years, we develop a connection around them and our phones are very dear to us, that is why we still keep our old handsets safely in a cupboard. It is worth mentioning about one of my friends who purchased her NOKIA handset doing some promotional marketing jobs. The phone is very dear to her, as the money that went to buy a gadget involved loads of hard work and sweat, therefore an intense feeling for the gadget is true and appreciated. I may, long for new models of phone everyday but that feeling which I have for my first phone still reminds of life, college and friends.