The Trai Chief said series of measures taken over the past months by the regulator to combat spam calls and malicious/fraudulent messages is leading to “significant and perceptible clean up of the system” but noted that “more needs to be done”
New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) expects to finalise by January, updated and tighter regulations on curbing spam calls and messages after holding extensive discussions on its recent consultation paper, Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti has said.
Lahoti further said based on a recent reference from Telecom Department, Trai will prepare and float a consultation paper on regulatory framework for telemarketers.
The Trai Chief said series of measures taken over the past months by the regulator to combat spam calls and malicious/fraudulent messages is leading to “significant and perceptible clean up of the system” but noted that “more needs to be done”.
“Our consultation paper was floated in August-end…we have already received comments and counter comments on it and now we will be analysing all the views and hold an open house discussions. It will take about three months for regulations to be finalised… so around January, we will come out with updated regulations on curbing spam,” Lahoti told PTI.
Trai had, in August, issued consultation paper on ‘Review of the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018’ where the regulator amongst other issues sought stakeholder opinion on whether a higher tariff should be introduced for calls and SMS-es beyond a certain limit, in a graded manner.
The regulator in the consultation paper mooted that telecom subscribers making over 50 calls or sending out even 50 SMS-es a day, along with certain other markers, should be scrutinised as a potential pesky callers.