The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) convened a meeting on Thursday with regulatory heads from major telecom service providers to tackle the persistent issue of spam calls. The meeting, chaired by the TRAI Chairperson, was attended by representatives from Airtel, BSNL, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, Tata Teleservices, Quadrant Televentures Limited (QTL), and V-CON Mobile and Infra Private Limited. However, MTNL and Reliance Communications Limited were notably absent, the Ministry of Communications said in an official release.
Also Read: TRAI Pushes for Enhanced Controls on Robotic and Bulk Calls
Migration of all Telemarketers and Enterprises making bulk calls to the DLT platform, Entity and Telemarketer Chain Binding for traceability of messages were also among the issues discussed during the meeting, the release said.
Key Agenda and Decisions:
Crackdown on Misuse: TRAI mandated that any entity found misusing its PRI/SIP lines for spam calls will face immediate disconnection of all telecom resources by its provider. Additionally, the entity will be blacklisted across all telecom operators for up to two years, with no new telecom resources allocated during this period.
URL Whitelisting: Starting September 1st, 2024, telecom providers will block any messages containing URLs or APKs that are not whitelisted, as part of efforts to curb the spread of malicious links.
Enhanced Traceability: Telecom operators were directed to implement entity and telemarketer chain binding by October 31st 2024 to ensure better traceability of messages.
Also Read: TRAI Mandates Stricter QoS Standards for Indian Telecom Providers, Effective October 2024
TRAI emphasised the need for immediate and stringent actions to curb the surge in spam calls, particularly those made through PRI/SIP connections. All telecom service providers promised their full support to enforce these measures within the stipulated deadlines, the Ministry said.
