Pakistan Telecommunication Authority PTA has already passed the various regulations to eradicate spam call & SMS but they are considered insufficient to stop the fraudulent and spam calls & SMS. Now PTA is going to introduce the new resolutions to reduce and eradicate the spam calls & SMS forwarded by illegal and unauthorized persons. PTA introduces new Regulations to decrease Spam Calls & SMS.

New Regulations to decrease Spam Calls & SMS

Yet there is no system introduced which can be completely helpful and authentic to minimize the illegal and spam calls & SMS. PTA has already passed the regulation in 2009 titled as “Telecom Consumers Protection 2009 to ensure the security of consumers’ interests.

In the same way various steps were introduced by PTA to eradicate the undesired and unwanted calls & SMS in previous years. A service was launched by PTS through which people can block unwanted and unauthorized calls through *420# or many other services.

Now the PTA is looking to make new amendments in the above regulations on the basis of recommended suggestions and instructions given by experts after the notice recently taken by Lahore High Court to stop the exchange of text messages by illegal and unauthorized housing societies.

The concerned authority has issued a document with few amendments in the regulations and looking for suggestions from operators and users.

PTA introduces new Regulations to decrease Spam Calls & SMS

PTA Proposed New Suggestions

1. The Cellular Service Providers will stop selling and promoting bulk SMS packages without approval of the authority and charges should be applied on per SMS basis. And also SMS charges should be same throughout the industry.
2. Per day subscription of SMS Packages should not exceed more than 500 SMS
3. Action on unauthorized and spam SMS & Calls  should be taken on consumer’s complaint as described in previous Para’s .To verify and block the Spam SMS , the user can also forward the spam SMS on Code 9000.
4. PTA has authority to block the Contact Number and IMEI of the caller’s device after verification from CDR without giving any warning to the accused, if any misusage of mobile number is found.
5. LDI (Long Distance Internationals) will develop large accounts with international users

• Sender ID of large account
• Content of SMS like password, transaction taken from a bank etc.

1. The registration holders of all CMOs and CVAS will comply with the following conditions in order to establish large account with each other

• Senders ID must be according to PTA’s approved short code or alphanumeric ID against approved short code.
• Approval of the content by PTA is mandatory.

1. Do Call/SMS Register will be introduced and launched instead of Do Not Call Register (DNCR) service. But until the development of DO SMS Register, DNCR may be continued.
2. A software will also be developed by LDI operators to block all international call/SMS from foreigners with their phone number and the dialing code of Pakistan +92-0000
3. To adopt further preventive measures, LDI Operators will introduce software to block such kind of calling party numbers at their network.
4. Awareness campaigns must be launched throughout the country via all means of communications like SMS, newspapers, social media, and electronic media. However, easy and understandable language should be used to convey the message of campaign to everyone.