TRAI cracks down on spam: Tough new measures for violators

India’s telecom regulator on Tuesday cracked down on spam calls and messaging by telemarketers, directing access service providers to take steps to curb the misuse of such services and protect consumers from fraudulent practices.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said from September 1, all Access Service Providers will be prohibited from transmitting messages having URLs, APKs, OTT links, or call back numbers which are not authorised, or whitelisted, by the senders.

TRAI has mandated the Access Providers to migrate telemarketing calls starting with 140 series to online DLT platform latest by September 30 for better monitoring and control.

Message trails to be traceable

From November 1, the trail of all messages from senders to recipients must be traceable. To enhance message traceability, any message with an undefined or mismatched telemarketer chain will be rejected.
To deter the misuse of templates for promotional content, TRAI has also introduced punitive measures for non-compliance.  
“These measures have been taken forward TRAI's initiatives to ensure a clean and secure messaging ecosystem, safeguarding consumer interests and preventing fraudulent activities,” the telecom regulator said.

Punitive measures

Content templates registered under a wrong category will be blacklisted, and repeated offenses will lead to a one-month suspension of the sender's services.

All messages and templates sent through the DLT system must follow specific rules. Also, each message template can only be used with one specific sender name (header).

If someone misuses the way a company sends messages (headers or templates), the TRAI will at once stop all messages from that company until they can check everything is okay. 

They will only start the messages again if the company takes legal action against the person who misused it. Also, companies that send messages on behalf of others must find and report anyone who is misusing their system.