Advertising
From Pink Slips to Silent Sidelining: Inside adland’s layoff and anxiety crisis
Telemarketers support govt plan to regulate commercial SMS, voice services: report
For a long time, telcos including Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea have been urging the government to regulate telemarketers to combat spam effectively.
OTT communication apps, including WhatsApp and Telegram, are facing pressure from telcos and advertisers over spam-related risks.
In a move to combat spammers, telemarketing companies have backed the Indian government's plan to regulate entities that deliver commercial SMS or voice services, as per reports.
According to the telemarketers, the move could help regulate personal data misuse while also curbing the spam menace.
The telemarketers' support follows the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) request to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) which sought recommendations on the framework for regulating telemarketers through an authorisation mechanism.
Major telecommunication companies in the country including Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have been urging the government for a licensing regime for telemarketing entities and SMS resellers to combat spam related challenges.
At present, the country over 280,000 businesses that use SMS for marketing, which are funneled through 16,000 aggregators, then handed off to just 15 delivery telemarketers, which then act as the final gateway, distributing all commercial SMS traffic to telecom operators nationwide.
According to telcos, this limits their visibility into the message chain, making it difficult for them to effectively combat spam.
TRAI has been urging both private and public telecom operators to take effective and stringent measures to curb unsolicited and bulk communications using voice calls, amid rise in the consumer complaints about pesky calls.
SPOTLIGHT
From purpose-driven work and narrative-rich brand films to AI-enabled ideas and creator-led collaborations, the awards reflect the full spectrum of modern creativity.
Read More“Confusion creates opportunity for agile players,” Sir Martin Sorrell on industry consolidation
Looking ahead to the close of 2025 and into 2026, Sorrell sees technology platforms as the clear winners. He described them as “nation states in their own right”, with market capitalisations that exceed the GDPs of many countries.