Cairo – July 22, 2024: In an effort to curb a surge in unsolicited calls from telemarketers and customer complaints, the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) announced new regulations for using mobile telephone numbers to conduct promotional and commercial calls.
The NTRA will launch an anti-spam alert service and require telemarketers to register these numbers in a special database as a commercial number, in line with the authority’s framework to protect the privacy of telecom users and eliminate spam calls.
In the coming few weeks, citizens will receive an “NTRA Alert” whenever they are contacted by a number from the database, or the identity of the commercial entity prior to the call.
Cold calling, in which a salesperson will call potential customers without their explicit request or interest, is a legal marketing strategy in Egypt, but it is regulated to protect consumer privacy and rights, primarily under the Consumer Protection Law No. 181 of 2018 which obliges businesses to respect consumer privacy.
According to the official statement, “By virtue of such regulations, those wishing to make promotional and commercial calls must officially register their data within the database of mobile operators in Egypt’s market and have the service of promotional calls activated, to ensure this service is lawfully and legitimately provided without prejudice or disturbance to the privacy of citizens”.
The NTRA urged citizens to report any calls received without the alert or notification to their mobile operator or the authority’s hotline 155 or website.
Telemarketers and mobile operators have a 1-month grace period to register the numbers, after which violators can be subject to legal and regulatory measures.
In June, Swedish telecoms company Enea announced that Telecom Egypt has reported a 90 percent reduction in the incoming scam and unwanted robocalls after deploying Enea's voice firewall.
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