TRAI cracks down on spam calls, reports 20% reduction in complaints after new regulations

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reported a 20% reduction in complaints related to spam calls and messages over the last two months. The number of complaints against unregistered senders dropped from 1.89 lakh in August 2024 to 1.51 lakh in October 2024. This significant decrease follows the implementation of stringent regulations in August 2024, which aimed to address the persistent issue of unsolicited promotional calls. Under these regulations, TRAI mandated that entities found making promotional voice calls in violation of the rules would face severe penalties, including disconnection of telecom resources, blacklisting for up to two years, and a ban on new resource allocation during the blacklisting period.

To further reduce the volume of spam messages, TRAI introduced a new mandate requiring all messages sent by Principal Entities (PEs) to be traceable. From November 1, 2024, all messages sent by PEs must include a traceable trail from the sender to the recipient. This regulation is designed to hold Principal Entities and Registered Telemarketers (RTMs) accountable for the messages they send. Access Providers have implemented the required technical solutions to comply with this mandate. However, to accommodate the technical upgrades and ensure that Principal Entities and Telemarketers can meet the new requirements, TRAI extended the deadline for full implementation to November 30, 2024.

As of now, over 13,000 Principal Entities have registered their telemarketer chains with Access Providers, as part of their compliance with the new regulations. TRAI has been actively monitoring the process and has issued warning notices to Principal Entities and RTMs that have yet to complete the necessary updates. According to TRAI, "All PEs and TMs are advised to complete the declaration of chains on priority as any message that fails to adhere to the defined telemarketer chain will be rejected." This measure is expected to reduce the volume of spam and promote better compliance with regulations in the telecom sector.

In addition to these measures, TRAI introduced a system to block incoming international calls that spoof Indian phone numbers. Activated in September 2024, the system was designed to identify and block fraudulent calls that appear to originate from Indian numbers but are actually from international sources. Within 24 hours of the system's activation, telecom service providers blocked around 1.35 crore calls, with 90% of these identified as spoofed calls. This new initiative has further strengthened the fight against spam and fraudulent activities in the telecom sector.