Applications
Trai softens SMS cap to 200 per day
NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), which had last week relaxed the rule for registered telemarketers by permitting them to send more than 100 text messages a day on each SIM, on condition of paying an additional five paise per message to network operators, has now raised the limit of SMS for consumers to 200 a day.
The change has been made the relaxation on representations from some of the service providers and consumers.
Trai had also lifted the cap on banks and insurers providing information to customers, and companies communicating with employees about the delivery of goods and services.
“The limit of 100 SMS per day per SIM shall not apply to a telemarketer or entity sending transactional messages,” Trai said in “The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Seventh Amendment) Regulations, 2011”.
A charge on telemarketers would increase network operators‘ revenues from 0.5-1 paise per SMS to 5.5-6 paise, according to the Cellular Operators‘ Association of India (COAI). But the charge would not affect contracts agreed previously between operators and agencies sending commercial messages.
Trai had issued “The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010” on 1 December 2010. All the provisions of these regulations came into force from 27 September 2011.
Applications
With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
