Anil Kumar Lahoti, TRAI chairman, stated that strict regulations will be introduced in January to curb spam calls. A new consultation on the authorisation framework is also expected to roll out. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has launched a pilot program to transfer paper-based and previous customer consents for commercial requests onto a digital distributed ledger technology platform. Let’s dig deeper into the updates related to ‘end of spam calls’ regulations.
What Has TRAI Announced?
The TRAI announced stricter rules for spam calls and messages over telecom networks on February 12, 2025. Under the new regulations to the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018, telecos are required to accept complaints against spam calls or messages within a period of up to a week of receiving them. Then, it acts on unregistered telemarketers quickly and implements lower tolerance thresholds for reported spammers.
Legal business texts will now have further disclosure processes. Customers will now be able to detect the type of commercial text by simply looking at its header, such as -p, -s, -g, etc., which is attached to the message header for the detection of promotional, service, government, and transactional messages.
What Will Happen to Reported Spammers?
Reported spammers will experience further investigations. All telecom resources of the sender will be restricted for 15 days if it exceeds the regulatory threshold initially. However, if the violation continues, all telecom resources of the sender, including PRI/SIP trunks, will be discontinued across all service providers for a minimum of one year. Also, the sender will be blacklisted for lifetime.
Financial charges of around Rs 2-10 lakhs have been imposed on telcos that misreport spam complaints received from users. Recently, steps taken by telcos to block spam calls using AI have been supported by the new regulation. Access providers are obligated to evaluate call and text patterns based on factors such as unusually high call volumes, short call times, and low incoming-to-outgoing call ratios.
The Do Not Disturb tool, which had not been managed in the long term, has been updated in the new regulation. The app enables users to report messages and call spam to their telecos. Anil Kumar Lahoti stated that reporting was an important part of the ‘end of spam calls’ measure.
Can These Regulations Cause ‘End of Spam Calls’?
Over the years, customers have been disturbed, stressed, and bombarded by spam calls. These calls generally come from unregistered telemarketers who use easily accessible telecom resources. The calls are often commercial and have become a primary source of frustration over the period. They have been disturbing millions of citizens across the nation. With TRAI’s new regulations to ‘end of spam calls’, there is a new ray of light that this harassment could finally come to an end.
By putting a pause on the telecom resources of unregistered telemarketers, TRAI has been dealing with the root issues. The 2-year ban on the resources and even blacklisting of the senders ensures that frequent violators will find it difficult to continue their operations further.
Such a move is further expected to reduce the number of spam calls, particularly coming from the unregistered telemarketers who have escaped detection in the past.
Is this Sufficient to Curb Spam Calls?
Although these regulations are stringent enough to stop spam calls, the question still remains about their enforcement and long-term effectiveness. The new regulations by TRAI further aim to bring all the unregistered telemarketers under the DLT platform within a month. However, ensuring compliance across the telecom sector is a difficult task.
Regular monitoring and stricter penalties will also be crucial to maintaining the effectiveness of these regulations. Moreover, reducing the number of spam calls and blocking telecom resources can be a new approach. Hence, customers should be vigiland and report spam calls to assist TRAI impose these regulations effectively.
The newest strategy is a major and crucial step by TRAI to curb spam call harassment, which has been impacting millions of lives.
How to Report Spam Calls?
You can report spam calls to the FTC and Google. Hence, users can identify and report calls through below options:
- FTC– Go to the official website of the FTC and follow the on-screen prompts. During this process, you will be asked to fill in the details regarding the call, such as the phone number used.
- Android– Go to the recent call logs, choose the spam number or suspected number, and hold it till you find the option to ‘Report Spam’.
What’s Ahead?
Ahead in 2025, TRAI is emphasising recommendations for Satellite communications spectrum, which is an important problem involving major telecom operators like Jio and Airtel along with Starlink. Lahoti refused to provide specific details or a timeline for the release of these recommendations, but assured that all comments would be examined fairly.
Along with Satellite communications, TRAI’s 2025 goal includes recommendations for network authorisation, a new broadcasting authorisation framework, and the revision of the national numbering plan for fixed-line services. The strategies to end of spam calls and texts will continue, with TRAI continuing implementation of a dedicated 160-series number for service or transactional calls, different from the 140-series that will be retained for commercial calls.
Lahoti also suggested TRAI’s plans to finalise the recommendations on millimeter-wave spectrum within a month and launch of consultation paper on backhaul spectrum. The regulator focuses on enhancing digital permission acquisition since problems arise in transferring old paper-based consents into a DLT platform.
To overcome such problems, TRAI makes efforts to partner with stakeholders to create a solution that facilitates seamless onboarding and verification of previous consents without affecting services. Lahoti interpreted that the goal is to make sure that the consents obtained in the past are properly recorded on the DLT platform, allowing customers to access option to opt out when they do not like receive communications.
Being a part of the pilot, TRAI works with some service provers and key companies to examine the migration process for the old consents.
Also Read:
