TRAI Directs Service Providers to Cut Off Unregistered Telemarketers Over Spam Calls

In a major step to curb the increasing number of spam calls, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has mandated all Access Service Providers to stop voice promotional calls whether pre-recorded or computer generated or otherwise from all Unregistered Senders or Telemarketers (UTMs) using SIP/PRI or other telecom resources under Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018).

Following are the directions issued to the Access Service Providers:

1. 1. all promotional voice calls from the unregistered Senders/Unregistered Telemarketer (UTMs) using Telecom Resources (SIP/PRI/other telecom resources) shall be stopped immediately;
   2. if any unregistered Sender/Unregistered Telemarketer (UTM) is found to be misusing its Telecom Resources (SIP/PRI/other telecom resources) for making commercial voice calls in violation of the regulations resulting into consumer complaints against any one or more number of resource indicators allocated to the Sender –
      1. all the telecom resources of such Sender shall be disconnected by the Originating Access Provider (OAP) for a period up to two years as per the provisions of the regulation 25 of the regulations;
      2. such Sender shall be blacklisted by the OAP for a period up to two years as per the provisions of the regulations;
      3. information regarding blacklisting of the Sender shall be shared by the OAP with all other Access Providers on DLT platform, within 24 hours, who will, in turn, disconnect all the telecom resources given by them to that Sender within the next 24 hours;
      4. no new telecom resources shall be allocated to such Sender by any Access Provider during the period of blacklisting as provided for in the regulations;
   3. all the unregistered Senders/ Unregistered Telemarketers (UTMs) using SIP/PRI/other telecom resources to make commercial voice calls to the citizen shall be migrated to the DLT platform within one month of the issue of this Direction and submit compliance report within seven days thereafter;

All Access Providers have been directed to comply with these directives and submit regular updates on the actions taken on the 1^st and 16^th of every month. This decisive action by TRAI is expected to significantly reduce spam calls and provide relief to consumers.