Telcos collaborate with tech partners to curb unwanted calls, messages

The Centre has currently designated the 140 number series for promotional voice calls, and the 160 number series for transactional and service-related voice calls

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) announced on Tuesday that telecom operators are collaborating with technology partners to deploy measures to reduce the menace caused by unwanted calls and text messages.

Representing leading telecom firms, the association said additional strategies will be introduced to tackle the problem of unsolicited commercial communication (UCC), according to a report by the Financial Express.

The report quoted SP Kocchar, director-general of COAI, as saying, “The industry has developed various modules over the DLT (distributed ledger technology) framework, which have been reasonably successful considering the noticeable decline in the volume of UCC originating from SMS over the last couple of years.”

However, he said that UCC through voice calls remains a concern being jointly tackled by regulators and telecommunications companies. Currently, the Union government has designated the 140 number series for promotional voice calls, and the 160 number series for transactional and service-related voice calls. This allocation is expected to help users in distinguishing genuine service calls, the report said.

COAI’s remarks coincide with the efforts of the Department of Consumer Affairs to draft guidelines aimed at regulating unsolicited spam calls and messages. Upon the issuance and implementation of these new guidelines, it would mark the first instance where banks, fintech companies, real estate developers, and other entities will bear direct responsibility for such spam communications, given that these organisations typically outsource their promotional activities to third-party agencies.

Kocchar said that upon notification, these guidelines will significantly aid in mitigating the nuisance of UCC by acting as a deterrent to unregistered telemarketers.

Up until now, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR) has been trying to combat the issue of UCC. The TCCCPR relies on a technological solution, specifically blockchain — distributed ledger technology (DLT) — to offer the most effective means of curtailing UCC. This approach involves various stakeholders such as telecom operators, telemarketers, aggregators, and principal entities (PEs).

According to COAI, the Digital Consent Acquisition (DCA) framework, developed by Telecommunication Service Providers (TSPs), stands as a significant component. Under this framework, PEs are mandated to obtain explicit digital consent from users before sending commercial or business communications. The TSPs are actively working to involve and enlist various PEs, including banks, financial institutions, and real estate agencies, to adopt and implement the DCA framework, the report stated.