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This comes as the telemarketing sector is reeling from the effects of burgeoning TPS registration. Last month John Price, managing director of B2B telemarketing agency Price Direct and chairman of the DMA contact centre council, was taken to task on the BBC's Breakfast programme on why the industry allows silent calls to persist.

It all begs the question of who is responsible for policing silent call transgressions. This is one of the issues tackled in a full-scale review, commissioned by the TPS and the DMA, to be published later this month.

Results were not disclosed as Marketing Direct went to press, but Charles Ping, head of customer relationship management at Guardian Newspapers and DMA chairman, says: "Every marketer who uses the telephone to connect with custom-ers is a stakeholder in this review, and it will affect you whether you are a good boy or a bad boy."

Many in the industry believe Ofcom should take a harder line with offenders.

Ofcom says it has been liaising with the DMA to encourage its members to reduce their levels of silent calls. But, the DMA can only police its own members and not the entire universe of UK call centres. Natalie Calvert, managing director of contact centre supplier Calcom Group, believes the problem can only be dealt with by regulation: "Only Ofcom can do this and it has to realise the seriousness of the situation."

The DMA's Price agrees, saying the regulator needs to send out a clearer message. He argues that Ofcom's response to the MKD Holdings investigation is overly complicated.

Robert Dirskovski, head of interactive media at the DMA, also believes that a more robust approach to MKD Holdings would have been appropriate.

"I think a financial penalty does speak quite loudly," he says.

Ofcom says "a silent call is one too many" and, in light of the thorny MKD Holdings issue, has promised to look very carefully at other complaints.

The DMA, too, is under pressure to justify its Code of Practice's five per cent tolerance of silent calls. This is set to be one of the key areas of the DMA/TPS report. Ofcom believes the US level of three per cent is better.

Meanwhile, there has been fierce criticism of predictive diallers - the technology at the centre of the silent calls storm. Ofcom says such technology offers important benefits, but argues for better application of the equipment, such as ensuring companies set lower call numbers, and that suppliers offer better training.

"Predictive diallers are necessary," says Price. "DMA members are responsible for quite a small proportion of silent calls - restricting the use of predictive diallers won't have much effect."

Stephanie Rouse, commercial director at customer contact management centre CPM, argues that such technology has its place as long as it is used res-ponsibly. "Predictive dialling equipment shouldn't be banned - but we as an industry have a role to play in how it is deployed. If a client came in and asked us to turn the dialler up and burn through data, we wouldn't do it," she says.

The review findings will be released on June 13, but it may be some time before a satisfactory conclusion is reached.

SILENT CALLS: THE STATISTICS

- Around one third of all TPS registrations are believed to be triggered by silent calls,

according to a DMA report.

- Ofcom's Contact Centre has received around 150 complaints a month since the beginning of this year.

- BT's Nuisance Call Bureau receives about 120,000 silent call complaints a month, NTL's Nuisance Call Bureau handles about 600 a month and Telewest around 80.

Source: Ofcom/DMA. txt2email

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