New Delhi, June 6: Telemarketers will have to register with the telecom department’s do-not-call directory by August-end or have their lines cut.

The national do-not-call register of all phone users is being formed to protect consumers from unwanted commercial calls. Telemarketers have been asked to register in the directory if they want to continue making calls.

The department today came out with a set of rules that said telemarketers who failed to register would find their lines disconnected and would not be allowed to make any calls or send messages.

They will have to register in a prescribed format after paying a processing fee of Rs 1,000 per centre. They will be issued licences that are valid for ten years, the department said.

Telecom watchdog Trai had yesterday issued regulations to put in place a national do-not-call register. The purpose is to check unwanted marketing calls and SMS texts.

The department defines telemarketing as the transmission of any message through telecommunication services to promote commercial transaction of goods, investments or services. Officials said this could mean mobile or fixed line calls, automated voice messages, SMS texts and video clips sent through mobiles.

“With technological advancements there could be other ways of sending messages through telephones such as sending an ad film through 3G or a game through the mobile ... when these come they too will be covered by the rules for telemarketing. If a customer does not want he wont get it, that's the principle,” officials said.

A telemarketer can have multiple registrations and each centre will be registered separately. Therefore, a centre of one company can be blacklisted for unsolicited calls, while the other centres can still function if they have not committed the mistakes.

The National Informatics Centre has been asked to set up the register within three months. The directory will maintain a record of users who do not want unsolicited calls.

Trai can slap a fine of Rs 500 on telemarketers for each unsolicited call or message to users registered with the do-not-call directory.