COAI welcomes TRAI push to curb spam on OTT communication apps

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has welcomed the government’s decision to engage with stakeholders to tackle spam and scam from over-the-top (OTT) communication apps like WhatsApp, Telegram and Google Meets.

On April 25, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) convened with the Joint Committee of Regulators (JCoR) in a high-level meeting aimed at addressing critical issues in India’s digital infrastructure and consumer protection landscape. Held at TRAI's headquarters, the meeting deliberated issues including dealing with unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) / spam and fraudulent communications, on OTTs.

Members of the JCoR, including representatives from RBI, IRDAl, PFRDA, SEBI, MoCA, and MeitY, participated in the meeting. Additionally, DoT, and MHA representatives attended the meeting as special invitees.

Read more: TRAI engages with Joint Committee of Regulators to discuss measures against fraud communications in digital

During the meeting, the issue of spam and scam through OTT and RCS communication platforms were discussed and MeitY assured of engaging with the stakeholders in this regard to take measures analogues to those for conventional telecommunication.

Commenting on the same, SP Kochhar, Director General, COAI said, "This action by MeitY, apparently recognises the trend of the nuisance of Spam and Scam Calls increasingly shifting to the OTT platforms, especially with the robust measures being undertaken for Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) by DoT along with the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) over the telecom networks."

"Government has now given indication that applications running over the networks need to be controlled by the respective line ministries, rather than appointing the blame and further consequences like penalties, etc. to the TSPs," he added.

Industry body COAI, whose members include Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, believes similar cybersecurity and regulatory rules should govern players, be it telecom operators or OTT communication applications.

"... while the telecom number can only be traced to the city where the mobile is residing, there are no ways to trace the activities of the OTT communication app which was initially issued on the mobile number, but is now running off a separate handset, while the SIM is on a different handset," he pointed out.

COAI feels that the cybersecurity measures need to be reinforced with clear outlines on the purpose, which is to free the people of such unwanted spam/fraud calls and messages to the maximum extent possible. For the same purpose, it may be judicious that similar cybersecurity and regulatory rules govern all the necessary players, such as TSPs or OTT communication applications.

It is to be noted that telcos have long argued that OTT communication apps should be regulated under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, as they rely on telecom infrastructure.

Read more: Calls grow for tougher regulations on WhatsApp, Telegram as spam threatens brand safety

Meanwhile, the likes of Broadband India Forum (BIF), National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) have argued that OTTs are already governed by the Information Technology Act 2000. In fact, in 2023, the then telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also had clarified that OTT apps are governed by the IT Act and not the Telecom Act.

Read more: TRAI puts OTT comms app regulation on backburner; prioritises Satcom spectrum framework

Despite that, telecos are pushing for OTT services to be regulated on par with themselves to ensure a ‘level playing field’— subjecting OTTs to a similar licensing regime and taxation as telcos.