TRAI Relaxes Deadlines For Telcos To Implement Anti-Spam Measures: Report

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reportedly relaxed its tight deadlines for telecom operators to implement the latest anti-spam measures within 30-60 days from February 12.

An ET report said that the move follows after industry players highlighted that the given timelines were arbitrary and lacked transparency and technical analysis.

Telecom operators, including major players like Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and Airtel had expressed concerns that the original timelines were too tight and could disrupt services, particularly affecting communications from banks and other businesses unprepared for changes.

In response, TRAI is now allowing a phased approach to implementation, which aims to provide operators additional time to adapt to the new regulations while maintaining a commitment to combat spam effectively.

This comes at the heart of TRAI intensifying its fight against spam and expanding the focus of its crackdown from SMS to over-the-top (OTT) messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram.

Last month, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which represents Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea, raised concerns over the effectiveness of the new measures in place.

It was on February 12 that the telecom regulatory body amended the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018, in order to strengthen consumer protection against Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC). The new rules propose strict penalties against telecom operators over non-compliance.

The announcement further said that 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.

Major Highlights Of The New Rules

As per the new regulations, all telecom operators need to give an option to their users to report spam calls and SMSs on the app or the web portal. Moreover, the telecom operators can also take permission from their users to access and analyse their call logs and SMSs.

The operators can analyse and flag spam call operators through high call volume, low call volume or low incoming or outgoing call ratios.

In the past the regulators have cracked their whip in fraudulent and pesky callers. Last year TRAI and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) jointly blocked 1 Cr mobile connections in relation to financial frauds. 50 entities were also blocked by the regulators and telecom operators.