COVID-19 AUDIO MESSAGE NOW AS CALLER TUNE
New Delhi, March 8: The government has ordered all telecom firms to make a 30-second audio clip on Covid-19 as a caller tune of mobile phone users to create awareness among masses about the epidemic — an order that stateowned BSNL and Reliance Jio have fully complied with while other telcos are yet to follow.
Top sources said on a request from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) ordered superseding of the phone ringing tone that one hears on dialling a number, with the 30-second information clip.
The only exception to not hearing the Covid-19 message is when a user has subscribed to a particular tune, they said.
All telecommunication companies were asked to incorporate the coronavirus ringing tone but so far only state-owned BSNL and Reliance Jio are in full compliance.
The other telecommunication companies have cited technical issues for part implementation, they said.
The DoT had on Friday sent email instructions to all telecommunication firms to make the Covid-19 audio clip as the 'ring back tone' to help disseminate information to masses.
The order asked telcos to “incorporate audio clips in ring back tone of each subscribers on urgent basis from today till further orders”.
This followed a letter from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to the telecom secretary Anshu Prakash on March 5 on disseminating pertinent information on Covid-19 through all channels of communication and from all possible vantage points.