TRAI sent a directive today to telecom operators directing them to change the way majority of Value Added Services are sold in India.

Ring Back Tone service (aka Hello Tunes/Caller Tunes/Welcome Tunes etc) has a feature on many networks that a user can press * while calling a person on same network and listening ring back to copy it as his/her own ring back. TRAI “figured out” this has generated in significant number of wrong provisioning as user does not know if it is going to cost her some cost. Whoops !

Though it acted like a good content discovery tool but it probably generated enough noise for TRAI to suggest extra confirmation on it.

Secondly, many VAS are offered to user by an interactive dial out call (Out Bound Dialer ‘s Call , OBD) in which user listens to about the service, its charges and even options of content. If user wants to activate the service, he is asked to press a key to select and to reconfirm and avoid any confusion a second confirmation key is asked so that any chance of pressing a key by mistake are avoided.

This has been working good, giving users a chance to know about service and content which sits inside the network. No promotion method could peer it as this is very simple (in local language, detailed) and even has experience of content (like listening the exact song clip)  which user can get by paying clearly stated amount.  A confirmation of charging and suggesting to recheck eliminates possibility of erratic provisioning.

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