Bulk SMS ban hits enterprise messaging solution firms

New Delhi: Enterprise messaging solution (EMS) companies are incurring losses daily due to the government's ban on bulk short message services (SMS) and multi media services (MMS) across the country till September 30 after the Supreme Court deferred by a week its judgement in the Ayodhya land title suit.

The EMS companies provide a set of wireless and messaging solutions to network and content providers enabling them to kee in touch with their customers.

One such company, Unicel Technologies, says it is losing over Rs 15 to 20 lakh daily.

"If things continue like this we are likely to suffer a loss of Rs 1 crore till September 30," said Vinay Aggarwal, managing director.

Unicel caters to around 20 BPO (business process outsourcing) companies and with this ban these companies will have to create more manpower to call its customers instead of messaging.

"A lot of critical messaging happens. Genuine as well as non-genuine content, everything has been banned," said Aggarwal.

The company caters to over 500 enterprise customers.

"Enterprise solution companies such as Unicel technologies are incurring a huge loss as their core business is bulk SMSs unlike the telecom operators who are having far little trouble," said Rajan Mattews, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

However, profit margins of telecom operators would decline.

"Though it will be difficult to provide an exact data, the total loss that the industry is likely to suffer should be around Rs 3 to 4 crore," said Mattews.

The COAI has requested the telecom department to relax the ban and allow essential messaging services to avoid inconvenience to the subscribers.

"These includes transaction alerts sent by banks to the mobile phones of their customers," said Mattews.

The government had initially banned bulk SMS and MMS services till Saturday ahead of the Ayodhya verdict Septmeber 24, in a bid to check the spread of rumours or hateful messages. However, the Supreme Court Thursday postponed the verdict till September 28, resulting in an extension of the ban till September 30.