Section 20 in The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010
20. Obligations of the Access Providers. -(1) Every Access Provider shall ensure that all commercial communications originating from its network are managed in accordance with these regulations.
(2)Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-regulation (1),-(a) every Originating Access Provider shall ensure that no telecom resource is provided to a telemarketer unless 24 [it] has registered itself with the Authority and has entered into an agreement with Originating Access Provider, in accordance with the provisions in Schedule IV to these regulations;(b)every Originating Access Provider shall, before allotting telecom resources to a telemarketer for sending Transactional Message, enter into agreement with such person in accordance with the procedure specified in Schedule V to these regulations and ensure that no telemarketing SMS is sent through the telecom resources allotted for sending Transactional Message;(c)every Originating Access Provider shall provide separate telecom resources to telemarketers, for sending transactional message and promotional messages;(d)every Originating Access Provider shall ensure that the telecom resources provided for sending transactional message are not used for sending promotional message;(e)every Originating Access Provider shall ensure use of correct header for sending commercial or transactional message, as the case may be, in accordance with the agreement entered into by the Originating Access Provider with the sender of commercial or transactional message, as referred to in clause (a);(f)Every Access Provider shall ensure that a telemarketer shall, before sending any SMS to a telecom subscriber, scrub the telephone number of the subscriber with the database received from National Customer Preference Register;(g)every Originating Access Provider shall ensure that no telemarketing SMS, other than SMS opted by the subscriber is sent to him;(h)every Originating Access Provider shall filter all voice calls received through the telecom resources allocated to the telemarketers to ensure that no commercial voice call is made to any subscriber, registered with the National Customer Preference Register.(i)every Originating Access Provider shall filter all promotional SMS received through the telecom resources allocated to the telemarketers to ensure that only promotional SMSs, preferred by a customer in his preference registered with the National Customer Preference Register, are sent to him;[(j) every Access Provider shall ensure that any commercial communication including SMS, other than transactional messages, is sent to a customer only between 0900 Hrs to 2100 Hrs;](k)no Access Provider shall provide to any person, other than a telemarketer registered as per regulation 14, any tariff plan or SMS package in any form such as special recharge voucher, student pack, seasonal pack, etc., permitting sending of more than one hundred SMS per day per SIM except on 'blackout days' and additional days as may be specified by the Authority by direction issued from time-to-time and all such SMS packages already provided to any such person shall not be renewed after their expiry:Provided that all SMS packages already provided to a customer other than to a telemarketer shall be discontinued on coming into force of these regulations; Explanation .-For the purpose of this sub-clause, blackout days mean the days on which free or concessional calls or SMS are not applicable. 25 [(ka) no Access Provider shall permit sending of more than one hundred SMS per day per SIM:Provided that in case of post paid telephone number the Access Provider shall not permit more than three thousand SMS per SIM per month: Provided further that in case of post paid telephone number, the Access Provider shall not permit sending of more than one hundred SMS per day per SIM from a date to be notified by the Authority;] 26 [(kb) the Authority may by direction, from time to time, specify the category of SMS which shall be excluded from the limit of one hundred SMS per day per SIM:Provided that before permitting a customer to send specified category of SMS beyond the limit of one hundred SMS per day per SIM, the Access Provider shall obtain an undertaking from such customer that he shall not use such telephone number for sending any commercial communications: Provided further that the Access Provider shall enter, in the list maintained in the National Telemarketer Register, the telephone number, name and address of the customer, category of exempted SMS and date of permitting sending of SMS beyond limit of one hundred SMS per day per SIM and the said list shall be updated every Monday.](l) no Access Provider shall send any commercial communication, either directly or by mixing such communication with service communication, through voice call or SMS or Unstructured Supplementary Service Device (USSD) unless specifically opted, to a subscriber whose name is registered in the National Customer Preference Register.
