The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reported a 20% drop in complaints over two months. This decline follows the rollout of stringent regulations and enhanced message traceability measures, highlighting the early success of the regulator’s aggressive campaign against unsolicited communication.
The telecom regulator implemented strict regulations issued on August 13, 2024. Entities found in violation now face severe penalties, including disconnection, a two-year blacklisting, and a prohibition on new resource allocation during that period.
The impact is evident in numbers. As per TRAI, complaints against unregistered senders dropped by 13% in September and by 20% in October compared to August. Specifically, the complaints fell from 1.89 lakhs in August to 1.51 lakhs in October, signalling the effectiveness of these measures.
To curb spam SMSs, TRAI introduced enhanced message traceability measures on August 20, 2024, requiring that all messages be traceable from sender to recipient. Although initially set for November 1, 2024, the deadline for technical upgrades and chain declarations was extended to November 30, 2024, to accommodate transitional needs.
As per TRAI, access providers have implemented technical solutions, and over 13,000 principal entities (PEs) have already registered their messaging chains. TRAI has also issued warnings to non-compliant PEs and Registered Telemarketers (RTMs), emphasising that messages not adhering to the defined telemarketer chain will be outrightly rejected.
“All Access Providers have since implemented the technical solutions. However, to provide a transition time for technical upgrades, and chain declaration by Principal Entities (PEs) and Telemarketers (TMs), TRAI, vide its Direction dated 28th October 2024, extended the time up to 30th November 2024,” TRAI explained.
To ensure widespread compliance, TRAI has organised a series of webinars in collaboration with major telecom players like Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, and Tata. Several government entities, including RBI, SEBI, PFRDA, and IRDAI, also attended these sessions.
On September 1, TRAI asked telecom operators to inspect and block text messages for web addresses, links to over-the-top messaging services, app installation files (APKs), or phone numbers.
In the News: North Korean shell companies found impersonating US IT firms to fund missiles
