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TRAI has announced a slew of measures and directives to crackdown on spam and fraudulent calls and messages, over the past months.
TRAI Extends Traceability Deadline, Ensuring OTPs Stay Uninterrupted Until December. (Representative image)
To ensure that consumers do not face any problems in getting OTP from banking and e-commerce companies, TRAI has reportedly postponed the traceability of messages for 1 month.
Extension of Traceability Rollout
The extension comes in response to concerns from telecom operators like, Airtel, Vodafone-Idea, and Reliance Jio, which highlighted that enforcing the traceability rule by November 1 might cause widespread message blockages. Many businesses, including banks and telemarketers, are reportedly unprepared for the technical changes, prompting telecom regulator to delay the rollout.
TRAI’s New Regulation on Unsolicited SMS
TRAI’s new regulation on unsolicited SMS is being implemented. New guidelines will come into effect from November 1. Unwanted SMS will be completely stopped from November 1.
Telemarketer Registration Requirement
A portal will have to be started for telemarketers registration. Now telemarketers will have to declare the chain of their messages. There is currently relief on the traceability of messages.
December 1 Deadline for Traceability Compliance
Companies will have to implement traceability from December 1. Impact on OTP was possible due to the implementation of traceability. At present TRAI has given time to the companies to implement it.
Regulations on Curbing Spam Calls and Messages
TRAI expects to finalise by January, updated and tighter regulations on curbing spam calls and messages after holding extensive discussions on its recent consultation paper, Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti has said.
Focus on Telemarketer Regulatory Framework
Lahoti further said based on a recent reference from Telecom Department, TRAI will prepare and float a consultation paper on regulatory framework for telemarketers.
Measures to Combat Spam and Fraudulent Messages
The TRAI Chief said a series of measures taken over the past months by the regulator to combat spam calls and malicious/fraudulent messages is leading to “significant and perceptible clean up of the system” but noted that “more needs to be done”.
Consultation Paper on Customer Communication Preferences
“Our consultation paper was floated in August-end…we have already received comments and counter comments on it and now we will be analysing all the views and hold an open house discussion. It will take about three months for regulations to be finalised… so around January, we will come out with updated regulations on curbing spam,” Lahoti told PTI.
TRAI had, in August, issued a consultation paper on ‘Review of the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018’ where the regulator amongst other issues sought stakeholder opinion on whether a higher tariff should be introduced for calls and SMS-es beyond a certain limit, in a graded manner.
Proposal to Discourage Pesky Calls and Messages
The regulator in the consultation paper mooted that telecom subscribers making over 50 calls or sending out even 50 SMS-es a day, along with certain other markers, should be scrutinised as potential pesky callers.
“To discourage usage of P2P (person-to-person) SMS-es and voice calls by UTMs (unregistered telemarketers), and strengthen the regulatory framework as enunciated in the TCCCPR-2018, a need has been felt to specify tariff for SMS and voice calls per SIM per day beyond a certain limit by persons other than an entity registered under the provisions of TCCCPR-2018,” the consultation paper said.
At present, mobile operators provide several plans with unlimited calls.
The regulator felt that differential tariffs may make commercial communication using 10-digit numbers unviable for unregistered telemarketers. TRAI had noted that despite punitive actions, the unsolicited calls from 10-digit mobile numbers have continued to irritate and harass customers.
TRAI has announced a slew of measures and directives to crackdown on spam and fraudulent calls and messages, over the past months.
Recent TRAI Directives on Spam Control
The telecom regulator issued directive on August 13, 2024, mandating that any entity found to be making promotional voice calls in violation of regulations would face strict consequences, including disconnection of all telecom resources, blacklisting for up to two years, and a ban on new resource allocation during the blacklisting period.
TRAI in a release issued on Monday said over 800 entities/individuals have been blacklisted, and more than 18 lakh SIP DID/Mobile Numbers/Telecom resources have been disconnected marking a significant step towards cleansing the systems of commercial calls.
Further, in line with TRAI directions of August 20, 2024, access providers have implemented mandatory whitelisting of URLs, APKs, or OTT links in messages with effect from October 1, 2024. This aims to ensure that only safe and approved links can get through the SMS, so consumers are shielded from harmful or fake websites, apps, or other online threats.
Implementation of Safe Link Whitelisting and Blockchain Tracking
With effect from October 1, 2024, telemarketing calls starting with the 140xx numbering series have been migrated to the Distributed Ledger Technology (Blockchain) platform for strict monitoring and control.
As per TRAI, access providers have implemented technical solutions to ensure the traceability of entities (senders/principal entities) involved in sending a message to recipients.
“This new system ensures that each person who handles the message, from the sender to the final delivery, is tracked,” TRAI said in a release on Monday, adding that this involves defining the Principal Entity (PE)-Telemarketers (TMs) chain through which messages travel before reaching the access provider.
PE-TM Chain Declaration Requirement by November 30, 2024
To provide a transition time for awareness, technical upgrades, and chain declaration, TRAI as per its directive of October 28, 2024 has asked access providers to ensure PE-TM chain declaration by all PEs (principal entities) and telemarketers at the earliest, and the PEs and TMs who default on PE-TM chain binding to be issued a warning by respective access providers on daily basis until November 30, 2024.
“With effect from December 1, 2024, any traffic (messages) where the chain of telemarketers is not defined or does not match with predefined chain shall be rejected,” TRAI release added.
(With PTI inputs)
