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Mail Today Bureau New Delhi, October 20, 2010 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Tuesday said it will roll out a set of regulations this month to put an end to the menace of unsolicited commercial calls and messages faced by mobile phone users in India. "That job (framing regulations for unsolicited calls) is almost complete. We are planning to come up with the regulations before the end of this month," Trai chairman J. S. Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of the open house discussion on National Broadband Plan. Sarma also said it would come out with the 2G spectrum pricing norms by the end of this month. The regulator is also planning to come up with the recommendations on the National Broadband Plan by the end of this month. "Unsolicited commercial communications (UCC), National Broadband plan and issues relating to 2G- 3G are all important, and we are working very closely on these three issues. These are the three issues that are currently engaging the maximum attention of Trai," he said. Trai had in May this year released a consultation paper on 'Review of Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications Regulations' and had held a series of meetings with stakeholders and subscribers. So huge are the stakes involved in the bulk SMS business that telecom operators virtually sabotaged the open house called by Trai and hijacked the discussions, leaving no space for mobile phone users and others to put across their views. Trai had convened the open house after intense effort by consumers. Leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel with the least stake in the bulk SMS business had earlier announced exiting this pesky business thus, becoming the first operator to do so. But other operators like Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communications and Loop Mobile who have high stakes are not willing to give up. Unsolicited commercial calls and SMSes are among major issues of concern for telecom subscribers and have resulted in a large number of complaints. Mobile phone users complain that they keep getting pesky calls and SMSes while roaming in India and abroad, for which they end up paying huge bills. The bulk SMS business in India is worth over Rs 250 crore annually. The service operators sell bulk SMSes as packages for between Rs 2,000 and Rs 4,000 per lakh SMSes. Considering the growing dissatisfaction among consumers, there were suggestions of forming a 'Do Call Registry'. Sarma however, refused to comment on putting in place regulations for a 'Do Call' Registry (opt in). Many telecom operators fear that if the 'Do Call' Registry is replaced by the existing ' Do Not Call' Registry (opt out), it would eat away their revenues being generated from tele-marketers. An 'Opt In' system will allow telemarketing calls and messages only to those subscribers who register themselves for this facility, automatically treating all others as 'not to be disturbed' users. Trai had floated a consultation process on UCC in 2006 and based on these recommendations, the National Do Not Call (NDNC) Registry was established in 2007. Facts: * Bharti Airtel had earlier announced exiting this pesky business * Operators like Tata Tele, RCom & Loop Mobile are not ready to give up bulk SMS biz * Bulk SMS biz in India is worth over Rs 250 crore annually * Operators sell bulk SMSes as packages for between Rs 2K- 4K per lakh SMSes * Trai had floated a consultation process on unsolicited commercial communications in 2006 and the National Do Not Call ( NDNC) Registry was established in 2007 * Only 11 per cent ( 7 crore) of the 65 crore users in India are registered with the DNC registry