New Delhi: Business entities want over a month’s extension beyond the seven-day deadline that ends on Tuesday to activate a new system aimed at preventing unsolicited commercial SMSes. In addition, they want a testing period to ensure messages don’t go undelivered as new and dynamic content flows into the system.
Separately, telecom operators are expected to meet Telecom Regulatory Authority<\/a> of India officials on Tuesday to discuss hurdles faced by those onboarding the blockchain-based system being implemented to check SMS headers<\/a> and content. SMS headers are unique IDs through which commercial text messages are sent.
“Some principal entities including businesses and government bodies are still lacking in their template registration and testing the flow of SMS traffic,” a senior telecom company executive involved in the matter told ET. “We will approach Trai<\/a> and represent these concerns and find a middle ground to help such entities.”
According to information on operator websites, almost 200,000 entities have registered their headers and content on the distributor ledger technology (DLT) that powers the SMS filters. However, some banks and government bodies are said to be seeking more time.
“The job is not as easy as it sounds,” said Aniketh Jain, chief revenue officer of telemarketing firm Kalyera. “All telemarketers are working day and night to ensure accurate registrations. The system is so rigid and we are lacking a test environment, so I am sure there will be SMS drops once the filters are activated again, but not expecting a major disruption this time.”
<\/p>Read also<\/h4>