Apr

24

TRAI to Telcos: Get Written Consent from Users on VAS

Filed Under India Business, Indian Government, Mobile Telecom, Regulations 

To prevent accidental activation of value added services (VAS) like call ring back tone and hallo tunes, Telecom regulator TRAI has directed the operators to seek explicit consent from users who have subscribed such services in writing.

TRAI thinks there could be chances of accidental activation of VAS through Out-Bound- Dialer (OBD)-call method, as children at home, can unintentionally pressed a particular key.

Also a customer, without listening to the announcements fully or without understand the offer may press a particular key unintentionally, thereby activating the chargeable service.

Now, operators will have to convey to the customer in writing or through SMS or FAX or e-mail, all the details of the offer of a value added service.  [source: Asian Cerc]

Most Indian Mobile Service providers are banking on VAS for future revenue growth in next 5 years. The above move will introduce extra work for the Indian Telecom value added services (VAS), but it may not be a hurdle that can pull down the margin from VAS, since SMS has also been called as an acceptable way to get User consent, which is similar to how its being done in Europe and other places.

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