TRAI issues directives to access providers to curb misuse of messaging services

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued directions for enforcement of measures to curb the misuse of messaging services and protect consumers from fraudulent practices.

Last week, TRAI directed telcos to disconnect all telecom resources of unregistered telemarketers found making spam calls, and to blacklist them for up to two years.

The Authority, on August 6, held a meeting with the service providers and their telemarketers and sought proactive action from all the stakeholders. The immediate action sought includes implementing technical solutions for traceability and preventing bulk calling by enterprise customers using 10-digit numbers.

Read more: TRAI urges telcos to take immediate action to curb pesky calls

Continuing its offensive against unsolicited spam calls and messages, in its latest move, TRAI said that from September 1, 2024, all access service providers will be prohibited from transmitting messages containing URLs, OTT links, or call back numbers that are not whitelisted by the senders. It has further mandated that the trail of all messages from senders to recipients must be traceable from November 1, 2024. Any message with an undefined or mismatched telemarketer chain will be rejected.

The Direction mandates all access service providers (ASPs) to ensure the following:

- migrate telemarketing calls starting with 140 series to the online DLT platform latest by September 30 2024 for better monitoring and control.

- effective from September 1, all ASPs will be prohibited from transmitting messages containing URLs, APKs, OTT links, or call back numbers which are not whitelisted by the senders.

- TRAI has mandated that the trail of all messages from senders to recipients must be traceable from November 1, 2024. Any message with an undefined or mismatched telemarketer chain will be rejected.

- to deter the misuse of templates for promotional content, TRAI has introduced punitive measures for non-compliance. Content Templates registered under the wrong category will be blacklisted, and repeated offenses will lead to a one-month suspension of the sender’s services.

- to ensure compliance with regulations, all Headers and Content Templates registered on DLT must adhere to prescribed guidelines. Additionally, a single Content Template cannot be linked to multiple Headers.

- in case misuse of headers or content templates of any sender comes to the notice, TRAI has directed immediate suspension of traffic from all the Headers and Content Templates of that sender for their verification. Revocation of traffic from the Sender shall be done only after legal action is taken by the Sender against such misuse.

- Delivery-Telemarketers must identify and report entities responsible for such misuse within two business days, failing which they will face similar consequences.

These measures have been taken forward TRAI’s initiatives to ensure a clean and secure messaging ecosystem, safeguarding consumer interests and preventing fraudulent activities.

Over the past few weeks, TRAI has held consultations with industry regulators including RBI, SEBI, government departments including the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, and DoT to address the issue of pesky communications and online financial fraud.

It is to be noted that under section 2 (28) and 2(47) of Consumer Protection Act, 2019 respectively, unwarranted or unsolicited commercial communication is misleading and unfair trade practice.