Telcos must block spammers for 2 yrs: TRAI

In a bid to combat the surge in robocalls and spam messages, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has directed telecom operators to blacklist any entity found misusing bulk connections for spam calls for two years. This directive, issued on August 8, 2024, came after a high-level meeting with regulatory heads from major telecom providers, including Airtel, BSNL, Reliance Jio, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone Idea, and Quadrant Televentures.

“If any entity misuses its SIP/ PRI lines for making spam calls, all the telecom resources of the entity shall be disconnected by its Telecom Service Provider (TSP), and the entity shall be blacklisted by it,” the post-meeting press release stated.

Information about the blacklisted entities then must be shared with other TSPs, who must impose a ban for up to two years with no possibility of a new allocation of telecom resources during this period. This will prevent the former from obtaining connections from any telecom provider, addressing the previous issue of them switching operators to evade blacklisting.

Businesses use SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and PRI (Primary Rate Interface) to connect to telephone networks. PRI links businesses to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) via physical lines, while SIP connects IP PBX systems to the internet for web-based voice calls. Unscrupulous agents exploit PRI services, which provide up to 32 connections per line, to generate pools of numbers for robotic diallers, leading to relentless spam calls. Blocking one number does not often stop others from the same PRI.

According to a LocalCircles survey, over 66% of Indians received three or more spam calls daily in the past year. While registering with the National Do Not Call Registry is the primary defence against these calls, the survey found that nearly 92% of those on the do-not-disturb list still experienced such interruptions.

During the meeting, TRAI also discussed measures to improve message traceability and the migration of all telemarketers and enterprises making bulk calls through a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform. The DLT platform is based on blockchain technology, which enhances sender IDs and message template management.

Starting September 1, 2024, non-whitelisted messages containing URLs or APKs will be blocked. Telecom service providers must complete the technical implementation for entity and telemarketer chain binding by October 31, 2024.

Before yesterday's meeting, on August 6, 2024, TRAI discussed issues related to robotic, auto-dialler, and pre-recorded calls with Access Service Providers and Delivery Telemarketers. The regulator mandated principal entities to register before sending promotional and marketing messages to mobile consumers, including one-time passwords, promotional messages, and account balance updates.