Pesky calls and text messages: Trai may soon broadcast list of defaulters

In an attempt to clamp down on pesky calls and text messages, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is likely to soon broadcast a list of defaulters, who failed to comply with the new norms.

It is learnt that Trai is monitoring implementation of the new SMS norms and is expected to publish a list of non-compliant entities.

The issue of pesky calls gathered steam a fortnight ago on March 9, when Trai suspended the newly-implemented norms for commercial text messages for one week. This came following major disruptions in SMSes and one-time password (OTP) deliveries for banking, payment and other transactions. On March 12, Trai had given three days’ time to entities like banks, e-commerce firms and others for complying with telemarketing rules, failing which they were to be barred from sending out commercial communication to customers.

In the meantime, Trai allowed telecom operators to start the process of scrubbing and prepare a database of messages that do not comply with norms.

“In order to protect the interests of consumers, it has been decided that scrubbing of SMSes by telecom service providers will be suspended temporarily for seven days,” Trai had said in a statement.

The latest norms, based on blockchain technology, aim to curb unsolicited and fraudulent messages.

The norms require bonafide entities sending commercial text messages to register message header and templates with telecom operators.

The SMSes and OTPs, when sent by user entities (banks and payment companies), are checked against the templates registered on the blockchain platform. This is called SMS scrubbing. Telecom operators had said that the payment companies and other entities did not take action even as the norms came into effect.

“It has been observed that some of the principal entities have not fulfilled the requirements as envisaged in the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR, 2018). As a result, their SMSes were getting dropped after implementation of the scrubbing of SMS by telecom service providers,” Trai had said.

The process details were published by Trai under the TCCCPR 2018, on July 19, 2018, and the regulations came into force on February 28, 2019. Those who did not comply with the regulations were to be filtered out through scrubbing. Several entities complained about drop in traffic when scrubbing was activated on March 8, following which Trai extended the process by one week.

“ Trai, hereby, once again requests all the principal entities (senders or businesses, private as well government bodies), who are using the telecom resources to send bulk messages to their customers, to fulfil the regulatory requirements immediately,” said the regulator.