Trai to nudge telcos on spam

New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is all set to nudge all telecom companies to stop unsolicited calls.

The watchdog is expected to meet service providers on March 27 and will push them to implement artificial intelligence and machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and block-chain technology to reduce unsolicited calls.

As part of a multipronged approach to address the problem, Trai is expected to explore strategies through technical solutions, regulations, directions and close monitoring as well.

“Trai chairman P.D. Vaghela would hold a meeting with all telecom companies on March 27 to discuss ways to counter the continuing menace of unsolicited commercial communications (UCC) or unwanted text messages and calls,” the telecom watchdog said in a statement.

According to a top industry source, Trai’s upcoming meeting with telcos will discuss formulation of a framework for sharing of UCC data detected by access providers on the DLT platform and strict action on principal entities (PEs) and registered tele-marketers for non-compliance.

“Besides, the regulator will find ways to use AI/ML-based anti-phishing systems, implementation of RegTech solutions on the DLT platform for promotional voice calls, implementation of digital consent acquisition as well as updates of the ‘regulatory sandbox’ established to detect unwanted text messages and calls,” the source said.

Last month, Vaghela chaired a meeting of the joint committee of regulators (JCOR) to implement UCC detect solutions to counter the menace.

The JCOR, consisting of the Trai, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities & Exchanges Board of India (Sebi) and the ministry of consumer affairs (MoCA), has been mandated to frame a joint action plan to curb financial fraud using telecom resources.

Back in July 2018, the telecom regulator had issued rules, making it mandatory for all telcos to seek customer consent for receiving UCC from telemarketers. It had also then called for deployment of blockchain or DLT that is used to manage crypto-currencies to ensure telemarketing messages were sent only to subscribers from authorised entities.