TRAI Assures No Delay In OTP Delivery After December 1

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has categorically refuted reports that suggested that telecom subscribers could face delays in receiving one time passwords (OTP) for online transactions post December 1. 

In a post on X, TRAI said that its message traceability mandate to telcos, aimed at curbing spam messages, would not lead to any delay in delivery of messages. 

“This is factually incorrect. TRAI has mandated the access providers to ensure message traceability. It will not delay delivery of any message,” TRAI said on X, while quoting a media report.

This follows after TRAI announced implementation of message traceability norms in August, which mandate that the trail of all messages from senders to recipients must be traceable.

Initially, the deadline was set at November 1 but was subsequently extended to November 30 to provide a transition time for technical upgrades, and chain declaration by principal entities (or senders).

Meanwhile, industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has reportedly shot off a letter to the consumer affairs secretary and sought notification of rules to regulate spam calls and messages. 

It is pertinent to note that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs in June this year floated draft guidelines for the prevention and regulation of unwarranted business communication. It is these rules that COAI wants notified.

As per COAI’s letter accessed by NDTV Profit, the industry body termed unsolicited business communications a “growing menace” for the public and a blatant invasion of consumer privacy, adding that spams expose consumers to potential risks of sophisticated financial scams.

It claimed that the notification of the guidelines will empower the department of telecommunications (DoT) to take action against all “deviant individuals, businesses, or platforms” involved in the menace of spam calls.

Taking potshots at messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram, COAI said that it has become “increasingly difficult” to trace and block spam as OTT communication platforms fell outside the regulatory ambit.

“Under the current dispensation, such communication is regulated only through the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation, 2018 (TCCCPR), which has been formulated under the TRAI Act, 1997. This is, however, an incomplete and therefore ineffective solution, as there are several entities in the ecosystem that are responsible for the unsolicited business communications that are outside the jurisdiction of TRAI,” the COAI’s letter reportedly added.

As per the telecom operators’ body, many miscreants were purportedly exploiting the system through innovative methods to fuel the menace of spam calls.