The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has taken a significant step to reduce the growing issue of spam calls by mandating strict regulations for all Access Service Providers.
Under the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018), TRAI has issued directives to stop all voice promotional calls, whether pre-recorded, computer-generated, or otherwise, from unregistered senders or telemarketers (UTMs) using SIP/PRI or other telecom resources.
The key directions issued by TRAI
Immediate Stop to Promotional Calls: All promotional voice calls from unregistered senders or UTMs using telecom resources (such as SIP/PRI) must be stopped immediately.
Disconnection and Blacklisting: If any unregistered sender or UTM is found misusing telecom resources to make commercial voice calls in violation of the regulations, the following actions will be taken:
ALSO READ: Centre warns against fraud calls claiming to disconnect mobile numbers
– All telecom resources of the sender will be disconnected by the originating access provider (OAP) for up to two years.
– The sender will be blacklisted by the OAP for up to two years.
– The blacklisting information will be shared with all other access providers on the DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) platform within 24 hours, who will then disconnect all telecom resources provided to that sender within the next 24 hours.
Did you know that you can join The Theorist on WhatsApp and stay updated? Click here
No New Telecom Resources: During the blacklisting period, no new telecom resources will be allocated to the blacklisted sender by any access provider.
Migration to DLT Platform: All unregistered senders or UTMs using telecom resources for commercial voice calls must migrate to the DLT platform within one month and submit a compliance report within seven days thereafter.
Regular Compliance Reports: Access Providers must submit regular updates on the actions taken to comply with these directives on the 1st and 16th of every month.
This decisive action by TRAI is expected to significantly reduce spam calls and bring much-needed relief to consumers.
