Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Updates Anti-Spam Regulations with AI Integration

Key facts

• The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has amended the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018, to incorporate AI and machine learning-based detection for unsolicited commercial communications.
• Telecom service providers are now required to identify and share information on sender numbers with a high probability of being used for spam among all operators.
• Application-to-Person (A2P) calls, defined as automated or robocalls, must be declared to telecom service providers, with undeclared calls subject to a termination charge of up to 5 paise per minute.
• A new consumer appeal mechanism allows users to challenge spam-related complaint resolutions within 15 days through existing channels like the DND app, telecom portals, or 1909.
• Telemarketers found misusing registered headers or content templates face potential disconnection of all telecom resources for one year and blacklisting.
• The regulator has mandated that agreements between access providers and telemarketers must include specific essential conditions to ensure regulatory compliance.