The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reportedly granted a one-month extension to December 1st for telecommunications operators to implement a new traceability mandate for commercial messages, including one-time passwords (OTPs). This move is aimed at combating spam and phishing activities. As per the revised deadline, messages not conforming to the traceability mandate will be blocked from December 1, as against the earlier deadline of November 1.
Telecom operators — Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and Reliance Jio — had expressed concerns about the potential disruptions of blocking messages that don’t adhere to the traceability rules, as many telemarketers and businesses, including banks, may not be fully prepared.
Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and Reliance Jio to now send daily warnings
To mitigate these concerns, TRAI has allowed a gradual implementation process. From now until November 30th, operators will issue daily warnings to entities that fail to comply with chain declaration requirements. Starting December 1st, messages from non-compliant entities will be blocked.
This is the second extension granted by TRAI to the industry. Earlier, the deadline for whitelisting messages with URLs and OTT links was extended to October 1st.
TRAI’s efforts to curb spam and enhance security in the telecom sector include blacklisting entities, disconnecting mobile numbers, and migrating telemarketing calls to a blockchain-based platform for stricter monitoring.
