Telecom service providers will face stricter regulations from September 1 as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) intensifies its crackdown on spam messages and calls.
Trai has made it clear that from September 1 all access service providers will be prohibited from transmitting messages containing URLs, OTT links, or callback numbers that are not ‘whitelisted’ (authorised) by the senders.
To enhance transparency and accountability, service providers will be required to maintain a detailed record of the entire message journey, from sender to recipient. This measure will come into effect on November 1. Any message with an undefined or mismatched telemarketer chain will be rejected.
Last week, Trai had directed telcos to disconnect all telecom resources of unregistered telemarketers found making spam calls, and to blacklist them for up to two years.
The telecom regulator has now “issued directions for enforcement of measures to curb the misuse of messaging services and protect consumers from fraudulent practices.”
“Trai has mandated the access providers to migrate telemarketing calls starting with 140 series to online DLT platform latest by September 30, 2024 for better monitoring and control,” it said.
Templates for promotional content registered under the wrong category will be blacklisted, and repeated offences will lead to a one-month suspension of the sender’s services, it asserted.