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Does FreJun provide Premium Numbers in India?

Premium-rate numbers in India

India’s telecom rules do provide for a Premium Rate Service, the closest equivalent to the 089 numbers in France. The caller pays a higher tariff on their phone bill, and the operator shares part of that revenue with the service provider.

In practice, however, this service has never been offered as a nationwide range that callers on every network can reach, as 089 numbers are in France. Earlier versions were limited to a single operator and a single city. The “caller pays extra” model in India has mostly moved to mobile operators’ short codes, used for TV contests and voting, rather than to phone numbers. Because the premium is charged on the caller’s phone bill, each caller’s operator must agree to bill it and share the revenue.

FreJun holds a Unified Licence (Virtual Network Operator) from the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India, and provides business phone numbers and voice services in India. Even so, we are not able to offer premium-rate numbers with operator billing and revenue sharing today, because the market for them does not exist in a usable form.

How we can work together

  1. Prepaid credits or subscriptions. Callers buy minutes or a plan on your website or app. Our system recognises their phone number when they call and deducts from their balance. This works well for repeat callers.
  2. Toll-free number with paid access. A toll-free number removes any cost hesitation for the first call, and payment is collected before the paid part of the service begins.

All of these can be built on FreJun Teler, our programmable voice API. It handles the numbers, the voice menu, payment checks and call routing.

Compliance requirements

Indian telecom regulations are strict, so please consider these points before planning a launch:

  1. Indian company required. Indian phone numbers can be allotted only to companies registered in India. We cannot allot numbers to a company registered outside India. To use any of the models above, Media Technologies would need an Indian entity, such as a subsidiary, that contracts with us and holds the numbers in its own name.
  2. Company verification (KYC). Before numbers are activated, the Indian entity must complete verification. This typically includes its Certificate of Incorporation, PAN (tax ID), GST registration where applicable, registered address proof, and the ID of the authorised signatory with a letter of authorisation.
  3. No resale or transfer. Numbers may be used only by the company they are allotted to, for the purpose declared at verification. They cannot be resold, sublet or passed on to another company.
  4. Caller data protection. Callers’ phone numbers, payment details and any call recordings are personal data under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act. They must be collected with the caller’s consent and used only for the stated purpose.
  5. Lawful services only. The service offered on the calls must comply with Indian law. Some content categories are restricted in India, so please share details of your service so we can confirm it is permissible.