13 hrs ago
TRAI Tightens Rules on Cold Calls, Spam Offenders Face Action
India’s telecom regulator has made rules for unwanted sales calls stricter.
Companies must have proof that a customer agreed to receive a call after making an enquiry.
That enquiry can be used for commercial calls for only seven days.
The enquiry must be written or digital and kept in a form that can be checked.
Telecom companies will use artificial intelligence and machine learning to find likely spam numbers.
If five or more numbers connected to one sender are flagged within 10 days, the sender may face checks or have services suspended.
Repeat offenders may be disconnected.
Companies making automated or recorded calls must also declare them, while call-management apps cannot label entire commercial number ranges as spam.
TRAI now requires verifiable customer consent for commercial calls based on enquiries to e-commerce and e-service providers.
An enquiry must be written or digital, preserved verifiably, and may support calls for only seven days.
Telecom providers must share numbers identified by AI and machine-learning systems as likely spam sources.
If five or more linked numbers are flagged within 10 days, senders may face verification, suspension, or disconnection.
Undeclared application-to-person calls will be treated as unsolicited commercial communication and may incur charges of up to 5 paise per minute.
- Who
- The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, telecom service providers, commercial callers, and consumers.
- What
- TRAI amended commercial-communication rules to require verifiable consent and impose stricter action against spam callers.
- Where
- The rules apply to telecommunications services in India.
- When
- The amendments were announced on Friday; enquiry-based calls are limited to seven days.
- Why
- To curb unsolicited commercial communications and address repeat spam offenders.
Key facts
- Consent requirement
- Commercial calls based on customer enquiries require verifiable consent.
- Enquiry validity
- An enquiry may be used for commercial calls for seven days.
- Required record
- Enquiries must be made in writing or digitally and preserved verifiably.
- Spam threshold
- Five or more linked numbers flagged within 10 days can trigger escalating action.
- Possible penalties
- Actions include KYC re-verification, physical verification, outgoing-service suspension, and disconnection for repeat violations.
- A2P call charge
- Undeclared application-to-person calls may attract termination charges of up to 5 paise per minute.
- Call-management apps
- Apps cannot blanket-tag designated commercial number series as spam, but consumers may block or filter individual calls.
Sources
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