Operator News

Supreme Court Restores 200 SMS Cap Limit

 

India’s Supreme Court on December 4th stayed a telecom tribunal order that quashed limiting of the number of SMSes to 200 per day per user. The SMS quota was originally introduced in 2011 by the regulator, TRAI to stop spamming by telemarketing companies.

In a brief hearing, a bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi stayed the Telecom Disputes and Appellate Tribunal’s (TDSAT) order. The Supreme Court passed the order on an appeal filed by TRAI challenging tribunal’s order.
TDSAT had on July 17 termed the ceiling on SMSes as “arbitrary” and against the right of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the Constitution and had set aside the sector regulator TRAI’s circular.
Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya had submitted that the restriction on SMSes was just a “non-application of mind” by TRAI and the circular fixing ceiling “has not explained why and how the figure of 100 or 200 SMSes per day was arrived at.”
TRAI had permitted sending only 100 SMSes per day per SIM except on blackout days or days specially notified by it. On November 1, 2011, it had increased the limit to 200 SMSes per day per SIM.
Though Supreme Court orders to remove the cap, it is not sure when the directives from DoT and TRAI will be implemented on operators’ front.

Mobile phones Banned for Women in Sunderbadi Village in Bihar

As a first of its kind diktat from a village panchayat in India, women and girls were banned from using mobile phones in Sunderbadi village in Bihar. As per the order issued by the Village Panchayat, heavy fines will be inflicted on those who violate the diktat. Girls will be fined Rs 10,000 and married women will have to pay Rs 2,000 if they are found talking on mobile phones. Village sources stated that they took this decision in the wake of increasing incidents of love affairs and elopements in the village.
Sunderbadi is a village in Kishanganj, which is is one of the backward districts in Bihar, with a population dominated by Muslims and around 60% of the people are living below the poverty line. These decisions were taken in a meeting attended by most of the villagers including elderly people and Panchayat members.
Senior Police officials confirmed this news and said that this is one of the first of its kind diktats issued by a Village Panchayat in India. This news reflects the concern of people around the use of mobile as many freak incidents are being reported over the misuse of this device especially among the young population including teen girls. The Sunderbadi Village Panchayat has also issued an order for women not to take bath by the road side. Those who attended the meeting clarified that this ban of mobile phone was seconded by most of the people who attended the meeting.
This could be a trend setter and we feel that many Village panchayats and other educational authorities may follow this ban on mobile phones especially by young population in the coming days.