While the pesky calls situation has shown minor improvement, 6 in 10 Indians surveyed still get three or more each day, with individuals selling financial services and real estate top offenders, a LocalCircles survey has found.
The survey received over 60,000 responses from citizens located in 378 districts of India. A total of 64% respondents were men, while 36% respondents were women. Around 42% respondents were from tier 1, 33% from tier 2 and 25% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.
60% OF RESPONDENTS RECEIVED 3 OR MORE SPAM CALLS ON AN AVERAGE EVERY DAY
The survey first asked respondents, “On an average, how many unwanted, pesky, sales/ promotional or robo phone calls have you been receiving in the last 12 months on your mobile number every day?”
This query received 12,196 responses with 60% of respondents indicating that they receive three or more spam calls on an average every day during the last 12 months. The data shows that while 30% of the respondents get 1-2 spam calls on an average every day, 36% of those surveyed indicated that they get 3-5 spam calls minimum almost daily, 21% of respondents indicated 6-10 spam calls, and 3% indicated over 10 unwanted calls. However, 4% of the respondents gave no clear response while 6% shared that they are fortunate not to “get any such phone calls”.
MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS GETTING 3 OR MORE SPAM CALLS DIPPED FROM 66% IN FEB 2023 TO 60% IN FEB 2024
A comparative study of the data shows that from 66% of mobile subscribers surveyed confirming getting 3 or more spam calls on an average every day in February 2023, the percentage has dipped to 60% in the last 12 months. The dip, though marginal, is encouraging as it shows that proper implementation of TRAI directive can bring about further improvement in containing spam calls to mobile subscribers.
6% MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS SURVEYED NOW HAVE INDICATED THAT THEY ARE GETTING NO SPAM CALLS
The improvement is more noticeable when one considers the fact that 6% of the mobile subscribers surveyed in February 2024 have indicated that they are getting no spam calls, while in February 2023 no respondent had indicated such relief. Further, to the question “on average, how many unwanted, pesky, sales/ promotional or robo phone calls do you receive on your mobile number every day?” There is no change in the percentage of those who shared that they receive 1-2 spam calls as both in February 2023 and February 2024 it remained at 30%. However, in the case of those who indicated that they get 3-5 calls on average every day, the percentage has dipped from 45% in February 2023 to 36% in the new survey as in the case of those who claimed to get over 10 spam calls every day on average there has been a decline from 5% to 3% in 12 months. Unfortunately, in the case of those who get 6-10 spam calls on average every day it has risen from 14% in February 2023 to 21% in February 2024.
90% OF RESPONDENTS ADMITTED THEY GET SPAM CALLS DESPITE BEING REGISTERED ON DND LIST
The next survey question asked mobile subscribers, “Have you been getting unwanted, pesky, sales/promotional or robo phone calls on your mobile number in the last 12 months despite being registered on the Do Not Disturb (DND) list?” This query received 11,769 responses with 90% of respondents admitting that they “still get them” while 5% indicated that they “don’t get them” and 5% of those surveyed gave no clear response. This clearly indicates that the DND list is still not working for the consumers.
A look at the response received to the same query in February 2024 and the last survey data shows that there has been a very marginal improvement in the last 12 months. From 92% of mobile subscribers getting unwanted calls in February 2023 despite being registered on DND list, the latest survey shows that 90% of such subscribers are continuing to receive pesky calls
76% OF RESPONDENTS INDICATED THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF PESKY PHONE CALLS THEY HAVE RECEIVED HAVE BEEN FROM FINANCIAL SERVICES AND REAL ESTATE SECTORS
The survey then asked respondents, “Under what category have you been getting the most number of unwanted, pesky, sales/promotional, robo phone calls on your mobile number in the last 12 months?” The query received almost 12,000 responses with 76% of respondents indicating that the highest number of pesky phone calls they have received have been from financial services and real estate sectors. The breakup of data showed 54% of respondents are receiving pesky calls from companies selling financial services; 22% from companies selling real estate; 7% of respondents indicated companies providing healthcare/ pathology services; 4% offering a job/ earnings opportunity; 2% providing services like RO repair, Spa, Beauty, etc.; 2% providing mobile number, better mobile talk/ data plans, etc.; and 7% of respondents indicated other categories.
Comparing the survey results in February 2023 and now provides interesting insights into changing trends. In some categories there has been an increase as in the case of “selling real estate” which has risen from 18% in February 2023 to 22% now. In the case of those providing healthcare/ pathology services, the respondents indicated it has risen from 2% to 7% and in “other categories” not listed, the rise has been from 4% to 7% in just 12 months. On the other hand, calls related to job/ earnings offering there has been a dip from 10% of unwanted calls to 4% and in the case of those selling financial services the calls have slipped from 60% of unwanted calls to 54% while there has been no change in calls related to those offering services like RO repair, spa or beauty treatment; providing mobile number, better mobile talk/ data plans, etc.; or those who indicated that they don’t get any spam calls
48% OF MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS SURVEYED INDICATED THAT THEY GET MAJORITY OF PESKY PHONE CALLS FROM DIFFERENT MOBILE NUMBERS THAT SEEM TO BELONG TO INDIVIDUALS
Seeking to know the source of the calls, the survey asked respondents, “How have you been receiving the majority of these unwanted, pesky, sales/promotional or robo phone calls on your mobile in the last 12 months?” This query received 11,483 responses with 48% of mobile subscribers indicating that they get majority of the pesky phone calls from different mobile numbers that seem to belong to individuals while 36% indicated that they come from different mobile numbers that seem to belong to companies/ brands; 7% of respondents indicated they receive calls from a centralized company landline number and 2% of respondents indicated that the calls seem to be from a centralized company toll free number. In addition, 7% of respondents opted for “can’t say
CALLS FROM DIFFERENT MOBILE PHONE NUMBERS THAT SEEM TO BELONG TO COMPANIES/BRANDS HAVE RISEN FROM 29% IN FEBRUARY 2023 TO 36% IN FEBRUARY 2024
Since February 2023, while pesky calls from a centralized company landline number have halved from 14% to 7%, the survey shows 2% of citizens are now getting calls from a centralized company toll free number. Similarly, while citizens receiving calls from different mobile phone numbers that seem to belong to individuals have dipped from 50% to 48%, the calls from different mobile phone numbers that seem to belong to companies/brands have risen from 29% in February 2023 to 36% in February 2024
LocalCircles, a Community Social Media platform, enables citizens and small businesses to escalate issues for policy and enforcement interventions and enables the Government to make policies that are citizen and small business centric.
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