India has an SMS spam problem. Mint and Times of India have recently run front-page stories. And then, our Finance Minister got a ‘pesky’ telemarketing call in the midst of an important meeting, which triggered a missive to the Communications minister, which in turn cascaded to the TRAI chairman. The solution being proposed is the … Continue reading Ending SMS Spam: Part 1
I had written a detailed series on the A2P SMS business in India a year ago. This is what I had written then: Creating a Do Call is certainly detrimental. The whole failure of implementation of Do Not Call (DNC) is being covered up by such a drastic measure. We assume that people who have … Continue reading Ending SMS Spam: Part 2
There are two possible approaches that can be taken with the green and red channels approach. In the first approach, one could start by treating every entity that sends A2P SMSes on the green channel. Green channel messages are not stopped or delayed. Then, as complaints come in, the rate at which messages are delivered … Continue reading Ending SMS Spam: Part 3
Here are the three tech interventions that are needed for these solutions: Every SMS should sent have a clearly identifiable alphanumeric SenderID. Mobile numbers should not allowed as senderID, unless they are in response to a request originated by the user to that shortCode or longCode over SMS. This will prevent companies from putting arbitrary … Continue reading Ending SMS Spam: Part 4
The Internet has not yet penetrated deeply and widely in India. SMS, other than voice, is the only mobile service that works on every mobile in the country. Even though there has been recent misuse of SMS by companies violating the NDNC (National Do Not Call Registry), the solution is not to create a “Do … Continue reading Ending SMS Spam: Part 5
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