The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a new direction to curb the misuse of message templates under the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018). This comes in continuation of its earlier directive issued on February 16, 2023, to stop the misuse of headers and message templates.
In a bid to tackle the issue of unsolicited commercial communication (UCC), TRAI has directed all access providers to permit the use of no more than three variable parts in the content of any message template, with proper justification and additional checks. Access providers have also been instructed to designate a separate approving authority for such content templates.
Furthermore, each variable part of the content must be pre-tagged for the purpose it is intended to be used, and a minimum of 30% of the message should comprise the fixed part to ensure that the original intent of the message is not changed by intermediaries. Only whitelisted URLs, APKs, OTT links, and callback numbers will be allowed in the content template.
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This directive is a significant step towards protecting the privacy of individuals and reducing the inconvenience caused by UCC. Telecom service providers have been directed to furnish a compliance report on this directive within 45 days.
TRAI has been taking various measures to curb the menace of UCC, which has been a major source of inconvenience for the public. In the past, the regulatory authority has introduced a blockchain-based solution for telemarketing, introduced a do-not-disturb app, and introduced the TCCCPR-2018 regulations to tackle the issue.
TRAI's latest directive is expected to bring about a significant reduction in the number of unsolicited commercial messages received by individuals and marks another step in the regulatory authority's ongoing efforts to protect the privacy of individuals and reduce the inconvenience caused by UCC.
