TRAI’s warning: Urgent need to take firm action against spammers using PRI/SIP connections for calls

As TRAI cracks down on spam calls, the telecom authority introduced stringent measures to stop the menace. The authority held a meeting with Regulatory Heads of Telecom Service Providers on August 8.

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| August 9, 2024 , 8:34 am
TRAI had issued the consultation paper on August 9 seeking responses from stakeholders until September 6 and counter comments until September 20.
TRAI had issued the consultation paper on August 9 seeking responses from stakeholders until September 6 and counter comments until September 20.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) held a meeting with Regulatory Heads of all the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) on August 8. The meeting was attended by the Chief Regulatory Officers of Airtel, BSNL, Quadrant Televentures Limited (QTL), Reliance Jio, Tata Teleservices Limited, Vodafone Idea Limited and V-CON Mobile & Infra Private Limited. Representatives of MTNL and Reliance Communications Limited didn’t turn up for the meeting.

Key issues discussed were spam calls by Entities sending bulk commercial communications through PRI/SIP or Bulk Connections and migration of all Telemarketers and Enterprise making bulk calls to DLT platform. Also discussed was Entity and Telemarketer Chain Binding for traceability of messages and whitelisting of URLs for blocking of messages containing malicious links.

After detailed deliberations, the following decisions were taken by the authority.

If any entity misuses its SIP/PRI lines for making spam calls, all the Telecom Resources of the entity shall be disconnected by its Telecom Service Provider (TSP) and the entity shall be blacklisted by it. This information shall be shared by the TSP with all other TSPs who will, in turn, disconnect all the telecom resources given by them to that entity and blacklist it for a period of up to two years. No new telecom resources shall be allocated to it by any TSP during the period of blacklisting.

With effect from 1st September 2024, no message, containing URLs/APKs that are not whitelisted, shall be allowed to be delivered.
The technical implementation of Entity and Telemarketer chain binding for ensuring traceability of the message flow shall be completed by the TSPs latest by 31st October 2024.

TRAI emphasized that there is an urgent need to take firm action on spammers using PRI/SIP connections for voice calls/Robo calls/Pre-recorded calls without further delay. All the TSPs promised to extend full support to TRAI in curbing the menace of spam calls and implement all the Directions of TRAI within timeframe.

Read more: TRAI urges telcos to take immediate action to curb pesky calls

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