Will unwanted advertising calls soon be a thing of the past?

CALL CENTER Customers are expected to be able to block telemarketing calls as early as the end of 2016. That is the conclusion of the of the roundtable initiated by the Foundation for Consumer Protection (SKS) together with its partners in the Alliance of Consumer Protection Organizations (FRC, ACSI).A Analysis of the Alliance of Consumer Protection Organizations shows that unwanted advertising calls to the fixed and mobile networks are perceived as a nuisance by large sections of the population. Sunrise, Swisscom and upc cablecom have now addressed the problem and are looking for possible solutions for their customers. The discussion focused in particular on legal and technical issues, including the ongoing revision of the Telecommunications Act, and it was agreed that Swisscom should offer a solution by the end of 2016 and upc within 12 months. At Sunrise, it is assumed that a feasibility study and any implementation of an advertising filter would take more than a year. How protection against unwanted advertising calls will be realized is still open at the moment. At present, it seems promising that telecommunications companies will identify illegally operating call centers and offer their customers the option of filtering out such advertising calls to the fixed and mobile networks.