As per TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) effective from 20th September mobile users will be able to send only 100 SMS’s per day. According to TRAI this rule will help reduce Spam which in most cases are SMS’s that are sent by marketing firms in India to mobile users.
Though this is a good step and will greatly reduce SMS Spam that affects almost every mobile user in India, it will also affect genuine users who text a lot because it is cheaper than making a call. The most affect mobile users are the students who use SMS as chatting medium.
Many mobile operators are providing cheap SMS packs or bulk SMSs which are subscribed to by many mobile users. But from 20th September it will not be worth it. You can blame the marketing firms who have from time to time misused the technology by sending multiple SMS’s to unknown users.
You might have received an SMS from your mobile operator notifying about the recent TRAI regulations. If you have not received yet, you soon will.
But will this new TRAI regulation really stop spam?
Yes and No. Yes because with a limit of 100 SMS’s per day from a particular number will definitely make the SMS service unviable for use as a marking tool. But then there are ways to get over it. The firms may buy multiple SIMS’s but that can prove a bit costly. Moreover these companies may switch from SMS to calls which means that SMS Spam’s may soon convert to Call Spam’s, and spamming will.. err.. continue.
What next may be TRAI may come up with another regulation of limit to 100 calls per day!
I think instead of implementing a limit on number of SMS’s they should come up with a strict law to deal with spammers. But hold on what about the Do Not Disturb (DND) why is it not effectively implemented, had it been there would have been no need for this 100 SMS per day cap.
The truth is that even mobile operators do not want a simple and effective DND because they get money for spamming their consumers.
What is your take on this. Leave a comment or suggestion on how SMS spamming can be reduced.