Trai Eyes Strengthened Anti-Spam Regulations Amid Soaring Complaints
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is poised to overhaul its spam regulations, expanding the definition of "commercial communications" to combat a significant rise in autodialer and bulk messaging abuse. This initiative comes in response to escalating complaints against unregistered telemarketers (UTMs), which reached 750,000 in the first half of 2024 alone, necessitating a comprehensive revision of anti-spam measures.
A recent consultation paper by Trai seeks to revisit the 2018 Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR-2018). While complaints against registered telemarketers have decreased, spam from UTMs remains a glaring issue. In 2023, complaints soared to 1.22 million—nearly quadruple the figures from 2020.
India has around 16,000 registered telemarketers (RTMs), with telecom operators legally mandated to curb UTMs by issuing warnings, setting usage caps, or disconnecting services for repeat offenders, who may face up to two years of service disconnection and blacklisting upon multiple violations. To date, more than 50 entities have been blacklisted and over 275,000 mobile numbers disconnected.
Promotional calls via 10-digit numbers and autodialers are on the rise, exploiting regulatory gaps. Trai’s data shows a stark contrast in call and text activity: while the majority of SIM cards made fewer than 10 calls daily, a tiny fraction made thousands, with similar disparities in messaging volumes.
The consultation paper proposes mandatory user consent for automated calls and prior notification to telecom operators regarding the use of autodialers. Additionally, pre-recorded voice calls may need to follow approved content templates to curb fraud and citizen harassment. Trai is considering enhancing current protocols that allow users to block promotional communications while managing transactional message receipts.
First Published: Sep 03 2024 | 6:44 PM IST
Last Updated: Sep 04 2024 | 12:15 AM IST
Original Story https://www.business-standard.com/industry/news/surge-in-robocalls-rogue-callers-necessitate-review-of-spam-rules-trai-124090301070_1.html
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