Telemarketing calls: Latest Trai order must be implemented effectively

While the telecom regulator and the govt have tried to check unsolicited calls in the past too, the implementation of the prescribed norms has fallen short of what has been envisaged

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) earlier this week issued an order with the aim to curb spam phone calls, including recorded voice messages. Spam or unsolicited calls from telemarketers have multiplied in recent months, violating mobile subscribers’ privacy, with no redress in sight. While the telecom regulator and the government have tried to check unsolicited calls in the past through various mechanisms and legislation (the last one was the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018), the implementation of the prescribed norms has always fallen short of what has been envisaged. Besides technology coming to the aid of the unregistered telemarketing entities in spamming consumers, telecom operators were often found to have taken a soft approach in dealing with the issue. The latest Trai diktat seeks to change that through a graded process by ordering the access provider (telecom operator) to disconnect for up to two years all telecom resources of any unregistered telemarketer found guilty of making commercial calls. Also, no other access provider will be allowed to onboard the errant telemarketer after a consumer complaint is found valid.

According to the Trai order, in case a complaint is related to an unregistered telemarketer, the originating access provider will issue a warning to the sender for its first violation. On the second instance, the sender shall be put under a usage cap for a period of six months, and on the third and subsequent instances, all telecom resources of the sender shall be disconnected for a period up to two years. Thereafter, the sender shall be blacklisted and no new telecom resources shall be allocated to it by any other access provider — this is a big takeaway from the order. Another moot point in the Trai directive is that all telecom resources of a spam caller will be disconnected, instead of disconnecting only a particular indicator. Trai has explained that enterprise customers often make commercial voice calls using session initiation protocol primary rate interface lines with hundreds of indicators; but action taken so far by access providers against enterprise customers has generally been limited to disconnecting a particular indicator, instead of all their telecom resources.

The size and scale of the spam universe can be gauged by industry estimates vetted by the telecom regulator. There were more than 1.2 million complaints in India against unregistered telemarketers in 2023, and in 2024 more than 790,000 complaints have been filed against such senders during the first half alone. Since the order is with immediate effect, it holds promise, but its effectiveness can be assessed only with time. Trai’s mandate is to protect the interests of consumers of telecommunication services, apart from meeting other objectives, such as regulating the telecom services and laying down the standards of service quality to be provided by telecom companies. In that context, preventing spam communication, which is a cause for immense consumer stress, should have been a priority area for the regulator all these years. Now that a firm step has been taken, consumers should be able to lodge complaints easily without getting caught in bureaucratic hurdles. For that, Trai, the Department of Telecommunications, and access providers must be on the same page and play a proactive role.