Relief for Jio, Airtel, Vi users as DoT orders to remove all COVID-19 caller tunes, announcements
India Today
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has ordered all the telecom operators in the country to remove the pre-call Covid-19 announcements.
If you are finding it hard to deal with the Covid-19 message that had replaced the normal caller tune two years ago, there is good news for you. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has ordered all the telecom operators in the country to remove the pre-call Covid-19 announcements. Ever since Covid struck, the caller tune was replaced with the Covid-19 announcements to make people aware of the pandemic and that people should take the vaccination jab to curb the spread of the deadly virus. However, now that the Covid cases have come down, the government believes the purpose has been sold.
As per a report published in PTI, DoT has asked all the telecom operators in India to discontinue all the COVID-19 pre-call announcements and caller tunes. The telcos department decided to do away with the covid-19 caller tune message because the pre-call announcements were overloading the network and delaying calls by several minutes. The telecom department sought permission from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare before asking the telecom operators to discontinue the Covid-19 announcements. "In this regard, the approval of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is received for withdrawal of the caller tunes with immediate effect," a PTI report said.
Back in 2020, Vodafone, Reliance Jio, and other telecom operators were asked to change the normal caller tune with the Covid 19 caller tune. The caller tunes were replaced with covid awareness announcements in March 2020. The Covid-19 caller tune was earlier used to start with the sound of people coughing and sneezing, followed by an advisory on the precautions one needs to take to stay safe from Covid.
The recording which was being played out soon after the coughing sound educated people on how to protect themselves and what necessary measures should one take to prevent them from coming in contact with the coronavirus. The initiative, though peculiar, helped people who had no access to TVs or the internet to take necessary precautions against the deadly coronavirus.
