TRAI Orders Disconnection Of Telecom Resources For Unregistered Senders And Telemarketers Making Spam Calls

The measures undertaken by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India are expected to significantly reduce spam calls and offer relief to consumers. Reports ETV Bharat's Saurabh Shukla

New Delhi:In a significant move to address the rising issue of spam calls, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has directed all Access Service Providers to halt all voice promotional calls — whether pre-recorded, computer-generated, or otherwise — from Unregistered Senders or Telemarketers (UTMs) utilising SIP/PRI or other telecom resources, in accordance with the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018).

On Promotional Calls
TRAI has issued new directives to Access Service Providers, requiring an immediate halt to all promotional voice calls from unregistered Senders or Unregistered Telemarketers (UTMs) using Telecom Resources (SIP/PRI/other telecom resources). TRAI further mandates that if an unregistered Sender or Telemarketer is found misusing telecom resources for commercial voice calls, leading to consumer complaints against any of their allocated resource indicators, the Originating Access Provider (OAP) must disconnect all telecom resources of the Sender for up to two years, as outlined in Regulation 25.

The Ministry of Communications has confirmed that such a Sender will be blacklisted by the OAP for up to two years. The OAP must share information about the blacklisting with all other Access Providers on the DLT platform within 24 hours, and these providers must disconnect all telecom resources assigned to the Sender within the following 24 hours.

No New Resources
During the blacklisting period, no new telecom resources will be allocated to the Sender by any Access Provider. Additionally, all unregistered Senders and Unregistered Telemarketers using SIP/PRI/other telecom resources for commercial voice calls must migrate to the DLT platform within one month of this directive and submit a compliance report within seven days thereafter.

TRAI has instructed all Access Providers to adhere to these directives and provide regular updates on their actions on the 1st and 16th of each month. These measures are expected to significantly reduce spam calls and offer relief to consumers.