Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) Regulations, viz. Telecommunications Commercial Communications Consumers Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018), deals with spam communications (calls or messages). The TCCCPR-2018 regulations have been followed by a number of Directions for implementation of provisions of the regulations. TCCCPR-2018 and Directions has provisions for:

1. Registering preferences for Commercial Communication where a telecom subscriber can opt to block all commercial communications or can selectively block commercial communications as per preference categories and registering complaint against senders of UCC through Mobile App, sending SMS to short code 1909 and calling on 1909.
2. Blacklisting of Registered Entities and Telemarketers for violation of TCCCPR-2018.
3. Action against Unregistered Telemarketer (UTM) such as giving a warning, putting them under Usage Cap or disconnecting in case of repeated violations.
4. Financial Disincentives (FDs) against the Access Providers for failing to curb UCC.

 

Further, on 13.08.2024 TRAI issued directives, mandating that any entity found to be making promotional voice calls in violation of regulations would face actions. Consequent to this Direction, Access Providers have taken widespread actions which led to a significant reduction in the complaints. After the issuance of the Direction, 1150 entities/individuals have been blacklisted and 18.8 lakhs telecom resources have been disconnected. Reduction in the complaints against the UTMs for Aug- Oct 2024 is as under:

Month	Complaints against UTMs	Change
August 2024	1,89,419
September 2024	1,63,167	13% less as compared to August
October 2024	1,51,497	20% less as compared to August

 

This information was given by the Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, Dr.Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

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SB/ARJ

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