Just 3,000 nods: Trai's whitelisting deadline may be pushed by 30 days

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) may extend the deadline to whitelist URLs (Uniform Resource Locators), APKs (Android Package Kit), or OTT (Over The Top) links -- through which it intends to curb their misuse -- is likely to be extended by 30 days as only over 3,000 registered senders (businesses) have complied, officials indicated.

According to TRAI officials, over 3,000 registered senders have whitelisted more than 70,000 links, but many more (thousands of others) are yet to comply with the directive as the mandatory norms are set to come into effect from October 1.

As a result, the order may be postponed by another 30 days, TRAI officials indicated to Business Standard on Wednesday.

The telecom regulator had mandated the whitelisting, or registration, of internet links, APKs, and call back numbers sent through text messages by September 1, which was extended by a month. An URL is essentially the link for a website, or the address of a unique resource on the internet while an APK is an executable file that contains all the data needed to install and run an Android App.

On Thursday, TRAI again asked the Joint Committee of Regulators (JCOR) which includes the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), various sector regulators, and government agencies to implement the mandatory whitelisting by October 1.

The decision is billed to have a major impact on curbing spam, and potential frauds given that many users unknowingly click on links which act as phishing tools for data hackers. But it has also sparked concerns that consumers of banks, financial institutions, and e-commerce companies may face interruptions in receiving service and transactional messages and especially One Time Passwords (OTPs).

At present, the telcos get the headers and the templates from the businesses. However, now they will also require the content to be submitted. This will then be verified by the telcos and only then will be sent to the customers.