The Indian telecom operators have been directed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to trace the origin of all commercial messages that are sent by principal entities (PEs). Starting December 11, 2024, which is today, the telcos have to ensure SMSes which don't have a defined or matching telemarketer (TM) chain will be blocked. This will make the communication experience safer for the customers. It will also bring accountability on the part of the telcos as well as the telemarketers.
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On this, COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India), an industry body which represents Airtel, Jio and Vi said, "To comply with TRAI's directives, all member Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) of COAI have successfully deployed the necessary technical solutions and have been technically ready to implement the PE-TM binding process."
On November 11, telcos had initiated PE-TM binding in a logger mode. Under this traffic was not blocked due to hash mismatches or unregistered chains. This allowed telcos to identify any issues of failures in their collaboration with the PEs and TMs. The telcos engaged with around 18,000 TMs and over 3,00,000 PEs during this time.
"As of now, more than 90% of PEs, accounting for the majority of commercial traffic, have successfully registered their chains," said COAI. The blocking mode will be completely operational from today, i.e, December 11, 2024.
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"Any message where the telemarketer chain is undefined or does not match will be rejected in accordance with TRAI's directives. This proactive measure is expected to minimize disruption and consumer inconvenience, given the extensive preparatory work undertaken by TSPs and stakeholders," said COAI.
This move from the TRAI will ensure safety for Indian consumers who have been victims of spam messages resulting in a financial loss and mental anguish.
