“The Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations, 2010” comes into play today! and looks like it that some processes are better defined that the last time it was enforced!

What it also does is that some important communication, e.g. from your online shopping vendors, the Delhi Traffic Police, etc would not be sent out to you. However, there is an option of partially blocking the unwanted communication (SMS and Telecalls).

Here is what you need to do to stop all unsolicited calls…

To stop all commercial calls/SMS, write START 0 and send it to 1909

To start some calls and SMS, these are the codes :

To start any of these, write START followed by the category code and send it to 1909, e.g. if you want to get SMS/Calls related to Health Services, the SMS that you need to send to 1909 is START 1

If you want to deregister from the DND registry, send STOP 0 to 1909

In case you’d like to check the status of your requests you can click here.

I personally feel that its not completely thought through from a SMS perspective, and here is why :

• Logically, if I want to stop the unwanted calls/SMS I should send a STOP message and a START message otherwise. The current process wants me to send a START if I want to STOP all unsolicited communication
• Also the categories should have atleast 1 State related SMS category, e.g. the Delhi Traffic Police SMS. I do not understand what category it falls under right now!

It is a good start though. I am hoping that the number of SMS that I get reduces to a minimum (I get atleast 30 messages and 5 calls per day)

This information is written with reference from all major Telecom Services Providers and the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Portal of TRAI.