The 15-day
restriction on bulk text messages as per the government directives has been limited to prepaid subscribers only with post-paid customers at liberty to send unlimited SMSs.
Leading operators such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India among others have been flouting the directive, which restricts messages to five per day.
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), there are more than five crore post-paid mobile subscribers and over 91 crore prepaid mobile subscribers in the country.
Security agencies had asked telecom companies to restrict messages after thousands of people of north-east origin fled cities like Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mysore fearing attacks. Several messages had threatened people of north-east origin that they would be attacked after Eid to avenge the Assam violence.
Noting that the guilty should be brought to book, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said last week that the unity and integrity of the country and communal harmony are at stake.
The government on August 18 confirmed that fake messages were originating from Pakistan.
An official of a leading telecom company told MAIL TODAY that it is impossible to restrict all messages - especially those sent by post-paid subscribers - as they could have different rental plans with free SMSs.
However, another industry official said that telecom companies are not willing to prove that they have the technology to ensure that messages of all subscribers - prepaid or postpaid - can be restricted.
"That could reveal the fact that they (operators) could also restrict and block unwanted messages and calls from telemarketers and other sources," the industry official added.
Courtesy: Mail Today 
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