Consumers hoping to get respite from unwanted telemarketing calls will have to wait more.

For the second time this year, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has pushed back the date for implementing the new regulations on regulating telemarketers.

While the new regulations were supposed to take effect on Tuesday, TRAI has now said that it will be effective from March 1. The delay is on account of a decision by the Department of Telecom to allocate ‘140' number series to telemarketers instead of ‘70' as suggested by TRAI earlier.

“The fact that telemarketing calls will start from ‘70' numbering series was also given wide publicity. However on January 31, DoT has communicated a fresh numbering series beginning with the number ‘140' in place of ‘70' number series. Communicating the same to all the Access Providers and carrying out the required changes would require time,” said a TRAI statement.

In December, TRAI had issued strict norms, including higher penalty on violating telemarketers and reducing the number of days for registering on the National Do Not Call (NDNC) Registry.

Customer registration on NDNC will be effective within seven days of registration instead of 45 days now. Mobile users can register by ringing up 1909 or sending SMS to 1909. Subscribers who have already registered on the NDNC register need no re-registration. If a telemarketer calls or sends an SMS to any subscriber on NDNC, the company will have to pay a penalty ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh.

The telemarketer will be blacklisted on the sixth offence after which the company will be disconnected by all the telecom service providers for two years.

The telemarketers' registration has already started on January 15 as per schedule.

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