India Bans Bulk SMS For 3 Days

The Ayodhya verdict has been postponed till September 28th. Rediff reports that the order has been extended till September 29th. 

Update: According to the Hindu, “For individuals, bulk SMS would be above 10 per day, while for companies it could be 100 or more.”
We’re not sure if this information is correct. I was able to send 11 SMS earlier today. We now have a copy of the DoT notification to telecom operators – download it here (pdf). There’s no mention of peer-to-peer (P2P) SMS being restricted.


Earlier: The Indian government has issued a ban on Bulk SMS and MMS services for the next 72 hours; it’s not about providing relief from SMS Spam, but about preventing a widespread panic and mob uprising given the impending verdict on the Babri Masjid land issue in Ayodhya, from the Allahabad High Court. There is fear that, given the unregulated nature of SMS and the widespread use of mobile phones in India, panic could be spread.
However, they haven’t taken into account two factors:


– SMS’ can be viral: messages have, in the past, spread from person to person across the country. It isn’t necessary that such SMS are always sent out as Bulk SMS from telecom service provider (which, incidentally, would make it easier to identify the source of the messages).


– Modem Farms: you might have noticed that at times, you get SPAM SMS’ from specific mobile numbers; for example, on 21st of September, I got a message from +918087674039, for 3 Star Hotels in Goa. At times, then the throughput requirement is not very high, or if the cost of peer-to-peer SMS is lower than Bulk SMS, modem farms are set up, wherein you just buy SIM cards, put them in modems, and fire away, paying regular SMS charges.
Banning Bulk SMS can contain mass messaging (the alternatives above cost more, have lower throughput), but can’t stop it.


Press Release from the Indian Government
Bulk SMS & MMS Messages Banned for Next 72 Hours
Ministry of Communications & Information Technology has today issued orders in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs to all Mobile Telecom Services Providers in the country for banning all bulk SMS & all bulk MMS Messages in all service areas with immediate effect for next 72 hours.