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The DMA welcomed the policy statement by the communications regulator, noting that it was in keeping with the industry body's own Code of Practice.

"We are delighted that for the first time, the industry has a reference point for dialler management," said the DMA.

Ofcom said in a statement released on 31 October that it was amending its policy to combat the problem of silent or abandoned calls, demanding that telemarketers take steps to identify themselves through recorded messages and Caller Line Identification (CLI), while ensuring that recipients can decline to receive further calls from a company.

Ofcom, which has the power to take action on the persistent misuse of electronic networks or services, also demanded that telemarketers ensure that less than three per cent of calls be left untended by operators - down from the five per cent threshold currently observed by the industry.

The regulator has also asked the government to raise the maximum penalty for a breach in the rules from £5,000 to £50,000.

"Excessive abandoned calls have become a real problem," said Ofcom chief executive Stephen Carter. "We believe new fines and new rules backed by firm action are necessary."

Anderson Manning Associates (AMA), a call centre operator based in Northern Ireland, welcomed the measures. AMA said in a statement: "The lowering of the percentage of silent calls from five per cent to three per cent in any 24-hour period and the increase in punitive fines goes some way to rid consumers of the silent call nuisance."

At the root of the silent calls issue is the growth in use by telemarketing firms of predictive diallers, which sometimes generate more calls than a company's agents can deal with, leaving some recipients picking up a silent line.

AMA has made a point of running its call centres without predictive diallers, arguing that "predictive calling de-humanises the call and, even when working correctly, does not allow enough time to prepare for the call".

The company added: "Predictive diallers are robotic, regimented systems that only work well if every call and every operator behave in the same way."

But not all telemarketing firms are convinced predictive diallers are damaging the industry.

Guy Smith, sales and marketing director at contact centre operator 2Touch, said he sees proper management of predictive dialling technology as vital.

"We (the contact centre industry) have to shoulder the responsibility for using the technology properly - no one will benefit in the long run if it isn't," he said.

His colleague at 2Touch, telephony sales director Gareth Jones, said the company broadly welcomed efforts by Ofcom and the DMA to curtail silent calls.

"We're slap-bang behind the DMA's push and Ofcom's change to regulations - especially the need for people to provide some sort of recorded message and to present CLI," he said.

See feature, page 47.