1.48 bn promotional 140-series calls blocked after DND checks in Q1: Trai

TRAI says 1.48 billion promotional calls and 7.3 billion SMS were blocked in Q1 FY27 as AI tools and DND preferences strengthened spam control

Nearly 13.16 billion promotional calls originated via the dedicated 140 series between April and June of 2026, a TRAI report said on Tuesday, adding 1.48 billion calls were blocked after verification with registered do-not-disturb preferences of the customers.

As per the quarterly report listing out the action against Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) during Q1 FY27, the commercial SMS originating from registered senders/telemarketers stood at about 248.06 billion. The promotional SMS blocked after verification with registered DND preferences of the customers stood at 7.30 billion.

According to the TRAI report, as many as 1.15 billion calls originated from 1600 dedicated series numbers, during Q1 FY 2026-27.

 

TRAI introduced the designated 140 series for promotional calls to ensure that such calls originate from a dedicated numbering series, enabling consumers to easily identify and manage such calls.

The designated series enables the consumer to exercise the choice of accepting or declining the call, TRAI said.

Moreover, the 1600 series was introduced for service and transactional calls by the entities in Banking, Financial Services and Insurance sector, and for Government to citizen communication.

"Registered DND preferences enabled blocking of about 1.48 billion promotional calls and 7.30 billion promotional SMSs, demonstrating effective consumer preference enforcement," the report by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said.

Nearly 13.16 billion promotional calls and 248.06 billion commercial SMS were routed through registered communication channels.

According to TRAI, the AI-based spam detection flagged 24.43 billion suspected spam calls/SMSs, and enabled consumers to exercise choice of either ignoring such communication or taking such calls with caution. Over 243,000 warning notifications were issued to the suspected senders within one week of commencement of such notifications.

Overall, action was taken against 183,000 telecom resources along with blacklisting of 263 senders in Q1 FY 2026-27.

"Enforcement targeted multiple layers - outgoing barring, long-term disconnection, sender blacklisting across all operators and SMS header blocking - to curb repeat violations," TRAI said.

Against 730.82 billion total calls originated in the telecom network in the country between April and June this year, total UCC complaints stood at 1.085 million, that is nearly 1.5 complaints per million calls, as per TRAI.