Trai Tightens Rules to Curb Misuse of Messaging Services
Issuing an order, Trai also said that to enhance message traceability it has mandated that the trail of all messages from senders to recipients must be traceable from November 1, 2024.
New Delhi: In order to ensure a clean and secure messaging ecosystem, telecom watchdog Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Tuesday directed all the stakeholders for enforcement of measures to curb the misuse of messaging services in the country. The move of the regulator aims at safeguarding the consumers' interests and preventing fraudulent activities.
Besides, the regulator also talked tough on pesky telemarketers and also mandated the access service providers to migrate telemarketing calls starting with 140 series to online distributed ledger technology or DLT platform latest by September 30, 2024 for better monitoring and control.
Issuing an order, Trai also said that to enhance message traceability it 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,” the regulator said.
Continuing its effort to curb the unsolicited spam calls and messages, Trai made it clear that from September 1, 2024, all access service providers will be prohibited from transmitting messages containing URLs, OTT links, or call back numbers which are not ‘whitelisted’ (authorised) by the senders. The latest move, however, assumes significance as the regulator has cracked the whip on unauthorised telemarketers indulging in promotional calls and messages to telecom subscribers.Last week, the telecom regulator directed telcos to disconnect all telecom resources of unregistered telemarketers found making spam calls, and to blacklist them for up to two years. The regulator has now issued directions for enforcement of measures to curb the misuse of messaging services and protect consumers from fraudulent practices.
To deter the misuse of templates for promotional content, Trai has also introduced punitive measures for non-compliance. “Content templates registered under the wrong category will be blacklisted, and repeated offences will lead to a one-month suspension of the sender's services,” it asserted.“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,” the regulator said, adding that revocation of traffic from the sender shall be done only after legal action is taken by the sender against such misuse.