Pesky calls: Govt allocates series 160 exclusively for service, transactional voice calls

In its ongoing attempt to curb Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) or pesky calls/ SMSes, the government has decided to allocate a separate numbering series 160 exclusively for service and transactional voice calls as per Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR), 2018.

For instance, calls coming from government (Centre/State) and Regulators should have a prefix of 1600 and Financial Entities regulated by RBI, Sebi, PFRDA and IRDA should have a prefix of 1601, an office memorandum circulated in Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said.