In its ongoing attempt to curb Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) or pesky calls/ SMSes, the government has decided to allocate a separate numbering series 160 exclusively for service and transactional voice calls as per Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR), 2018.

For instance, calls coming from government (Centre/State) and Regulators should have a prefix of 1600 and Financial Entities regulated by RBI, Sebi, PFRDA and IRDA should have a prefix of 1601, an office memorandum circulated in Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said.

Apart from these principal entities (PEs), if any other entity requires assignment of number resources under this series, then the same has to be requested separately by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), a source told businessline.

According to the DoT note, the telecom service providers (TSPs) also have to indicate the licencing service area (LSA) as part of the series in the 10-digit number they provide to the PEs. For example, if a call is routed from Delhi then the series should be 1600 (or 1601)11; If it is from Tamil Nadu then 1600 (or 1601)44; from Mumbai, the series would be 1600 (or 1601)22, the DoT note said, adding that the series will also be followed by the TSP (BSNL/MTNL, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone-Idea, etc).

Verification

“The TSP should ensure adequate verification of each and every entity before assigning a number from 160 series. The TSP should also obtain an undertaking from the seeking entity (PE) that it will use the number assigned from 160 series exclusively for service and transactional voice calls as per TCCCPR, 2018 notified under TRAI Act-1997 only,” a senior government official said.

The official also added that the TSP should also make clear to the PEs that it will be responsible for proper bonafide use of the assigned number 160 series. “Instructions issued by the Licensor in this regard from time to time shall be scrupulously followed. Further, the TSP shall assign 10 digit numbers only from 160 series,” the official added.

Earlier this month, businessline had reported quoting Anil Kumar Lahoti, Chairman, TRAI that the regulator was going to significantly revise the regulations so that all these problems of UCC can be resolved, adding that TRAI will come out with a consultation paper next month.

“We are going to significantly revise the regulations so that all these problems of UCC can be resolved... tighten the mechanism, to clamp down on calls being made from normal 10-digit numbers and (will also address) other forms of misuse,” Lahoti had said adding that the Consumer Affairs Ministry, too, is working on the issue of tackling UCC.

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