Telecom operators – Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea – have voiced strong objections to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) recently introduced measures aimed at curbing spam calls and messages.
Representing the telecom sector, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) argued that Trai should have included delivery telemarketers and over-the-top (OTT) platforms under its regulatory purview to tackle unlawful communication. “In the current digital landscape, both OTT communication providers and telemarketers (TMs) have become major stakeholders in messaging, and thus, it would be critical to establish a regulatory framework to ensure accountability from all stakeholders in the ecosystem, including OTT platforms and telemarketers/principal entities,” stated SP Kochhar, director general of COAI. He emphasized that it makes little sense to regulate one segment of traffic (telecom operators) while leaving OTT communication services unregulated.
Trai officials, however, maintain that regulatory oversight for OTTs falls under the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY).
Last week, Trai amended the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR) 2018 to combat unwanted calls and SMSes. The new rules, which will be phased in over the next 30 to 60 days, introduce features such as a simplified spam reporting mechanism, a do-not-disturb app, stricter penalties for non-compliance by telecom operators, and an opt-out provision for promotional messages. Under the revised framework, misreporting spam communications could result in penalties of Rs 2 lakh for a first offense, Rs 5 lakh for a second, and Rs 10 lakh for subsequent violations.
“At the same time, it is also concerning that the authority has substantially increased the penalty to be imposed over the TSPs (telecom service providers),” Kochhar remarked.
Kochhar added that COAI had submitted that imposing financial disincentives on telecom service providers—merely intermediaries in the process—fails to address the core issue of unsolicited commercial communication (UCC). He suggested that if penalties are deemed necessary, they should target telemarketers or the principal entities that originate and profit from these communications.
Under Trai’s amended rules, telemarketers could face blacklisting and disconnection of their telecom resources across all operators for one year after subsequent violations, with outgoing services barred for 15 days after the first breach. Additionally, senders and telemarketers must complete physical verification, biometric authentication, and unique mobile number linking during registration with telecom operators.
Telecom operators claim that despite taking robust measures to curb spam calls and messages, the volume of both unsolicited and legitimate commercial communications via OTT apps has surged, contributing to an increase in financial crimes. They argue that penalties should not be imposed on them given their intermediary role in this process.
