Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state: -
(a) the number of call centres functioning in the country, State-wise;
(b) whether there are any guidelines or rules governing these call centres;
(c) if so, the details thereof and if not, whether the Government proposes to formulate guidelines for these call centres; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
(a) to (d): As per Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) Cells register the Other Service Providers (OSPs) throughout the country in their respective jurisdiction which includes call centres also. Separate data of call centers is not maintained by TERM Cells. The OSP means a company providing Application Services such as call centre, tele-banking, tele-medicine tele-education, tele-trading, e-commerce, network operation centre and other IT Enabled Services, by using Telecom Resources provided by Authorised Telecom Service Providers. The revised Terms and Conditions for the registration of the OSP were issued vide No.18- 2/2008-CS-I Dated: 5th August, 2008. These terms and conditions and their amendments are available on DoT website at the link http://dot.gov.in/relatedlinks/registration-under-other-service-providers-osp-category.
In Telecom sector, country is divided into 22 License Service Areas (LSA) which generally are co-terminus with States, and each LSA has a TERM Cell. As on 31.10.2016, total 10,042 OSPs were registered with various LSA (details are at Annexure).
As per Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the salient features of guidelines for OSP (includes call centres) are as under:
i. Registration may be granted to any company (Registered under Companies Act 1956/2013) or Limited Liability Partnership (LLP, registered under LLP Act, 2008) to provide Application Services. These service providers will not infringe on the jurisdiction of other Authorised Telecom Service Providers and they will not provide switched telephony.
ii. The registration is location specific, so a company may have more than one registration. Any change in the location of OSP Centre shall require amendment in the original registration.
iii. The validity of the registration shall be 20 years from the date of issue, unless otherwise mentioned in the registration letter.
iv. The validity of the registration may be extended, if deemed expedient, the period of registration by 10 years at one time, upon request of the OSP, if made during the 19th year of the registration period on the terms mutually agreed. The decision of the Authority shall be final in regard to the grant of extension.
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Annexure
Registered OSP Data as on 31-10-2016
S.No. Licensed Service Area (LSA) Total Registered OSP as on 31.10.2016 Area of Jurisdiction
1 Andhra Pradesh 1133 Andhra Pradesh, Telangana
2 Assam 29 Assam
3 Bihar 26 Bihar, Jharkhand
4 Delhi 2077 Delhi including Ghaziabad, NOIDA, Faridabad and Gurgaon
5 Gujarat 407 Gujarat including UT of Daman & Diu and UT of Dadra & Nagar Haveli
6 Haryana 7 Haryana excluding Faridabad & Gurgaon
7 Himachal Pradesh 14 Himachal Pradesh
8 J&K 18 J&K
9 Karnataka 1384 Karnataka
10 Kerala 202 Kerala and UT of Lakshdweep
11 Kolkata 811 Kolkata
12 Madhya Pradesh 125 Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
13 Maharashtra 807 State of Maharashtra excluding Mumbai
14 Mumbai 1283 Mumbai
15 North East 8 Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur
16 Odisha 36 Odisha
17 Punjab 330 Punjab and UT of Chandigarh
18 Rajasthan 121 Rajasthan
19 Tamilnadu 1046 Tamilnadu and UT of Pudducherry
20 Uttar Pradesh (East) 90 State of UP(E)
21 Uttar Pradesh (West) 64 State of UP(W) (excluding Ghaziabad and Noida city) + state of Uttarakhand
22 West Bengal 24 State of West Bengal (excluding Kolkata) + State of Sikkim + UT of Andaman & Nicobar
Total 10042
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