Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday directed cellular operators to seek the consent of the subscribers before providing services like voice mail.

Asking the operators to ensure compliance to the authority's directive within five days from now, Trai said, "unless the subscriber gives a confirmatory message in reply to such SMS or any other form of communication from the service provider, the cellular operator should discontinue the voice mail service or VMS with immediate effect."

Trai had received numerous complaints from subscribers, and after examining the issue in detail, the authority had asked the cellular operators not to offer such services without the prior consent.

Although VMS did not accrue a monthly charge, the called party had to pay charges on retrieval of these messages.

This had also resulted in payment of call charges by the calling party even in cases where the called party did not choose to access the voice mail, a Trai statement said.

Some of the cellular operators had represented that only those called subscribers, who retrieved the message were charged for those services.