This is important for the VAS companies sending out SMS': The TRAI has mandated mobile operators prefix a service provider and service area code in order to allow the authority to track unsolicited SMS'. Thus, an SMS received from the Hard Rock Café in Mumbai, if sent via Vodafore, will have to be displayed as VM-Hardrock. This is in order to help crack down on alphanumeric SMS', the source of which was difficult to track. The deadline for the change has been set for Feb 2009, since the SMSCs that Reliance Communications and Reliance Telecom have, will have to be upgraded. Download the notification here. I've been received unsolicited messages from the Hard Rock Café, after I'd given my number there to book a table, and MeraMobi, after I'd downloaded its app to try it out for a story. All these notifications are steps in the right direction, but there really is no update on what the TRAI is doing about the DNC complaints. I've made several complaints since signing up over a year ago, and over the past four months, I've received no updates or calls from my service provider (Airtel) on what has been done regarding the complaints, despite calling up and requesting an update. Are mobile operators being held accountable the TRAI? In the final quarter of the financial year, the Insurance companies will up the ante, and the unsolicit call problems will resurface...so who is eventually accountable? It's not as if the DNC hasn't helped, but…
