It Takes 45 Days To Add One Phone Number To A Database

How long, in your opinion, does it take to add a phone number to a database? What if I told you that it takes a full 45 (forty-five) days? Yeah. Forty-five. That’s how long it will take for your phone number to reflect in TRAI’s (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) spanking new India-wide Do Not Call (DNC) registry.

Says TRAI’s recent circular (my comments in []):

Telephone users not wanting commercial/unwanted calls may now register their request with their telephone operators.

[Great. Just what we've been waiting for.]

• Telecom operators have allotted specific numbers for registering your request through phone and SMS. Telecom operators after verifying your request will intimate registration within 10 days.

[Ok. I can somehow bear with this. But I don't see any update on Airtel's website on this topic. There's still time till September 01, 2007, when the DNC is supposed to go live (or kaput?). ]

• 45 days after registration, no commercial/unwanted calls will come on your registered phone number.

[How's that? We develop software for the whole world and it takes 45 days to update our own database! I don't think my phone number is a multi-gigabyte data object.]

You’re lucky if you live in a Tier I city because here comes the kicker. Telemarketers have responded saying:

With DNC kicking in from September 1, we will be tapping other databases of potential customers for instance, in tier II and III towns. With a growing mobile user base, the slowdown will be only short-lived.

The telemarketers are, however, incensed that the government didn’t even consult before issuing a legislation on them.

The government failed to start a consultative process with us and brought out the notification arbitrarily which was unexpected.

I sure wouldn’t want to live in a Tier II or Tier III town now. After all, you don’t want to incur the wrath of a scorned telemarketer.

Finally, if after 45 days you continue to receive spam calls, don’t call TRAI. Call your telecom operator! Passing the buck starts here.