Telecos Question TRAI’s New Spam Rules Excluding WhatsApp, Others

SUMMARY

According to a Moneycontrol report, COAI pointed out that TRAI's amendment failed to address key issues, particularly the exclusion of OTT communication service providers such as WhatsApp and Telegram from its regulatory scope

On February 12, TRAI amended the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018, to further strengthen consumer protection against UCC

Failure to implement the regulations or misreporting UCC incidents will result in fines of INR 2 lakh for the first violation, INR 5 lakh for the second, and INR 10 lakh for each subsequent instance

A few days after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) amended its regulations to tighten consumer protection against spam calls and messages, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) which represents Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, has raised concerns over the effectiveness of these measures.

According to a Moneycontrol report, COAI pointed out that TRAI’s amendment failed to address key issues, particularly the exclusion of OTT communication service providers such as WhatsApp and Telegram from its regulatory scope.

“The COAI is disappointed to see that TRAI’s amendment to strengthen consumer protection against Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) has been issued without resolving all relevant issues,” said COAI’s Director General SP Kochhar,

On February 12, TRAI amended the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018, to further strengthen consumer protection against UCC. The revised rules impose strict penalties on telecom operators for non-compliance.

Failure to implement the regulations or misreporting UCC incidents will result in fines of INR 2 lakh for the first violation, INR 5 lakh for the second, and INR 10 lakh for each subsequent instance. Repeated violations could also lead to the suspension of telecom services.

Before this, on August 28 last year, TRAI had issued a consultation paper (CP) on reviewing TCCCPR 2018, seeking stakeholder feedback on necessary regulatory amendments to enhance consumer protection and curb UCC.

Even in the last month, COAI was reported to be writing to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to adopt the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) new definition of international traffic, which could increase their SMS revenues by over INR 400 Cr annually.

This request, in turn, arises from a long-standing issue where multinational companies (MNCs), particularly in the ecommerce sector, have been accused of misclassifying international messages as domestic to avoid higher charges associated with international SMS.

Besides these, TRAI has several other measures already undertaken or are under the pipeline to fight against spam calls.

This includes TRAI reportedly looking to launch an updated version of its do not disturb (DND) app to provide some relief to smartphone users, after the existing DND app, launched in 2016, faced criticism for its limited effectiveness and user engagement.

It was also reported last year that TRAI is expected to announce the recommendations concerning the allocation of spectrum for Satcom soon.

Amid concerns regarding disruption in OTP service, TRAI has also assured that there will be no delays in the delivery of OTP with changes implemented in December 2024.