Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) announced that telecom consumers in the
country will be able to send up to 200 SMSes per day from a SIM, as against the
earlier limit of 100 SMSes per day imposed by the regulator.
The
100 SMS limit created hot debate in the industry. The telecom industry and the
user community was against the SMS limit that was imposed as a measure to curb
the unwanted calls and SMSes.
“The authority has received representations from some of the service
providers and consumers to increase the limit of 100 SMSes per day per SIM. The
authority has considered these representations and decided to increase the
limit of 100 SMSes per day per SIM to 200 SMSes per day per SIM,” TRAI
said in a statement on Tuesday.
To deter unsolicited SMSes by telemarketing companies, TRAI had earlier
restricted the number of non-commercial SMSes that can be send from a SIM to
100. There was no restriction on commercial messages sent through telemarketing
companies registered with TRAI.
Operators
were against this limitation as it would hurt the revenue streams of mobile
companies in India. Mobile VAS including SMS contributes 10-12 percent of Indian
telecom operators’ revenue.
The new cap of 200 SMSes per SIM per day will be effective from Tuesday.
By
Telecomlead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com