This December, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) successfully ensured the industry's full and final compliance with the message traceability guideline to tackle spam from now on. This marks a successful end to all the efforts ushered in by the TRAI  and Telcos to ensure a safe and secure telecom space for users. 

This marks the inflection point in India’s telecom space wherein a structured mechanism and procedure has gotten its way to make people’s lives easier and better as technology advances. 

PE-TM relation 

One of the most important guidelines under the SMS traceability guidelines is the PE-TM linkage. The TRAI has made sure that the Principal Entity - Telecom Service Provider (PE-TM) chain declaration from all the entities is received well on time.

It makes it easier to trace the route followed by the communication and in turn, ensures no deceiving communication. 

Read more about it here: TRAI Mandates New Deadline for Compliance of Traceability Guidelines to Combat Spams

A collaborative approach

TRAI collaboratively approached the entire process by partnering with major sectoral regulators such as RBI, SEBI, IRDAI, and PFRDA, along with government bodies like NIC, CDAC, and state governments, to enhance awareness and expedite declaration and binding initiatives. Access Providers also contributed significantly by assisting PEs and TMs through focused outreach campaigns and offering technical guidance to ensure smooth integration into the blockchain-based Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). 

Commercial Calls Mandate

Other initiatives marking a new era in India’s telecom space count on TRAI making it compulsory for commercial calls to be made with a “140” series number. Additionally, these calls are routed through a DLT, thus making them traceable. Finally, people who have subscribed to Do Not Disturb (DND) won’t receive any commercial calls.  

These initiatives make sure that none of the stakeholders is left to suffer at the expense of law and regulations.

E-Commerce Calls 

Moving further, earlier in an interview with NDTV Mr Lahoti said that TRAI is in consultation with the stakeholders to allocate other series of numbers for making service and transactional calls referring to important and genuine E-commerce calls, which also fall under commercial calls. 

The approach from TRAI is combined with strictness and accommodation, with user convenience being the cornerstone of every decision. 

Read more about it here: TRAI Plans to Disconnect Private Numbers Doing Spams

A Safe and Secure Telecom Ecosystem

As part of its mission to combat spam, TRAI has blacklisted over 800 entities and individuals and disconnected more than 1.8 million mobile numbers and telecom resources. This marks a major stride in eliminating unwanted commercial calls and enhancing the telecom system's integrity.

To further address the issue of spam, TRAI has introduced robust measures to prevent the misuse of headers and content templates, safeguarding consumers from fraudulent activities. Additionally, the regulator recently urged telecom operators to sever connections with unregistered telemarketers, reinforcing its commitment to creating a safer telecom environment.

Read about the last update on SMS Traceability at: Why is SMS Traceability Important? TRAI’s Guideline to Kick in From Dec 11