Trai On Spam Calls

Simply blocking phone numbers on mobile devices will not stop spam calls, and subscribers should instead report them through the Trai DND app, the telecom regulator said on Monday. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said it has disconnected and blacklisted more than 21 lakh mobile numbers and around one lakh entities involved in sending spam and fraudulent messages based on subscribers' complaints registered on the DND app. "The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has issued an advisory, urging citizens to report spam calls/SMS through the Trai DND app, highlighting that simply blocking numbers on personal devices does not stop spam at the source," the statement said. The regulator said that action taken by it based on complaints received on the app demonstrates that collective reporting by users plays a crucial role in curbing telecom misuse nationwide. "This large-scale action was made possible because citizens reported spam through the official Trai DND ap

Trai has ordered BFSI firms to move service and transaction calls to the 1600 series from 2026 to reduce spam, financial fraud, and rising digital-arrest scams

The feature is being introduced to help curb spam, fraud, and scam calls, as well as reduce incidents of impersonation where callers pretend to represent other people or organisations

Trai held talks with RBI, Sebi, and DoT to fast-track a digital consent system that lets users block spam calls and revoke permissions via a tamper-proof interface

STRAP A new RBI-TRAI pilot brings relief from unwanted bank calls and messages. Consent will be required before promoting loans, credit cards, or financial products.

Brand Name Display aims to prevent calls from banks, food delivery firms, and hospitals being wrongly tagged as spam and boost customer engagement

In the past, Trai had come up with many regulations to curb unsolicited calls and messages but they have largely remained ineffective

Telcos criticised the lack of regulations for OTT communication services, highlighting their growing role in spam proliferation, while new norms introduce significantly higher penalties for operators

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Centre on a PIL alleging an "enormous rise" in cyber crimes and "nuisance" of unsolicited calls in the country. Observing government agencies were doing their bit, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar issued a notice to the Department of Telecommunications. "Yes, we understand the problem is there. Let the Centre respond, the bench said, noting the PIL of one Gowrishankar from Bengaluru. The plea sought a direction to telecom network operators to implement the calling name presentation service (CNAP). The service, which facilitates identification of the caller's name and is usually displayed in the caller ID section of the phone, may help recipients to make informed decisions about calls and combat spam calls.

TRAI will start, this month, a pilot to onboard paper-based and past permissions given by customers for receiving commercial communications onto its digital distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform, a process that in the long-run would include scrubbing and verifying their current validity and offering opt-outs to those keen on it, Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti said, adding that tighter regulations on curbing spam as well as new consultation examining an authorisation framework for telemarketers can also be expected in coming weeks. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has also ruled out any rethink on its latest regulation that mandates service providers to offer separate special tariff vouchers (STV) for voice calls and SMS. Lahoti told PTI in an interview that while consumers can be encouraged to use data, they cannot be "compelled" to do so. TRAI's focus is to protect not only the interest of the industry, but also the interest of the consumer, who must have the option

The consumer affairs ministry will release guidelines next month to tackle unsolicited commercial communications or pesky calls, a senior government official said on Tuesday. Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare said the department has prepared draft guidelines in consultation with stakeholders, which will be harmonized with upcoming regulations of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). "We are ready with the draft guidelines on pesky calls. We will harmonise it with their (Trai) norms and issue it next month," Khare told reporters on the sidelines of a National Consumer Day event. Trai Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti, who was also at the event, said the consumer affairs ministry is focusing on guidelines for business entities' roles, responsibilities and conduct, while the telecom regulator will separately introduce stricter norms in response to growing consumer complaints. The initiative stems from a joint committee of Indian regulators, led by Trai, which decided to strength

Trai's new message traceability norms go live from Dec 11 and aim to protect users by ensuring OTPs and essential messages are delivered seamlessly, while tackling spam and fraudulent communication

Delhi has seen the highest number of spam calls, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Western Uttar Pradesh. Most spam calls originated in Delhi, with Mumbai and Karnataka next

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) expects to finalise by January, updated and tighter regulations on curbing spam calls and messages after holding extensive discussions on its recent consultation paper, Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti has said. Lahoti further said based on a recent reference from Telecom Department, TRAI will prepare and float a consultation paper on regulatory framework for telemarketers. The TRAI Chief said series of measures taken over the past months by the regulator to combat spam calls and malicious/fraudulent messages is leading to "significant and perceptible clean up of the system" but noted that "more needs to be done". "Our consultation paper was floated in August-end...we have already received comments and counter comments on it and now we will be analysing all the views and hold an open house discussions. It will take about three months for regulations to be finalised... so around January, we will come out with updated regulations on curbing .

Trai's new mandate, set to take effect on November 1, would require traceability of messages sent by principal entities, including banks, e-commerce platforms, and financial institutions

Telecom companies have consistently raised concerns that they are penalised for spam that originates from third-party telemarketers over whom they have little control

Bharti-Airtel has identified over 112 million potential spam calls and 3 million spam short messaging services in Tamil Nadu in the last 12 days of the launch of its AI powered spam detection system, a company official said. The telecom major has established Artificial Intelligence powered algorithm to identify classify calls and SMS as 'suspected spam' and it analyses various parameters based on the customers' usage pattern. By cross-referencing this information against known spam patterns, the system flags suspected spam calls and SMS accurately. "In today's digital landscape spam calls and suspicious texts have become a major concern for customers. To address this, Airtel introduced an innovative AI-powered solution integrated into the Airtel ecosystem. This solution allows users to enjoy its benefits without needing additional downloads or complex set up," Bharti Airtel Tamil Nadu Chief Executive Officer Tarun Virmani said on Wednesday. "This service empowers 29.8 million Airte

Without wasting any more time, the DPDP Act needs to be acted upon with the goal of protecting users' data and thereby minimising fraud

Many entities refrained from sending messages where URLs were not whitelisted, as these would have been blocked by telecom operators

Telecom regulator Trai and the Department of Telecom have jointly disconnected over 1 crore mobile connections to check pesky callers and fraudsters, according to an official statement. The Department of Telecom has blocked 2.27 lakh mobile handsets for their involvement in cybercrime and financial fraud. "Till date, more than 1 crore fraudulent mobile connections have been disconnected with the help of Sancharsaathi. Further, 2.27 lakh mobile handsets have been blocked for involvement in cybercrime /financial frauds," the statement said. To curb the menace of spam calls, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has directed telecom operators to disconnect and blacklist entities, using bulk connections for spam calls, including robocalls and pre-recorded calls. "In the last fortnight, over 3.5 lakh such numbers have been disconnected and 50 entities have been blacklisted. In addition, around 3.5 Lakh unused and unverified SMS headers and 12 Lakh content templates are blocke