TRAI leads joint committee of regulators to strengthen measures against spam and telecom fraud

New Delhi [India], August 28 (ANI): The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) convened a meeting of the Joint Committee of Regulators (JCoR) on Wednesday, at its headquarters in New Delhi.

According to the Ministry of Communication, attendees included members of the JCoR from IRDAI, PFRDA, RBI, SEBI, MoCA, MeitY, and TRAI, with representatives from DoT and MHA participating as special guests. The JCoR functions as a collaborative platform to assess regulatory implications in the digital era and work together on regulatory frameworks.

In his address, TRAI Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti emphasized the importance of a unified approach to combating spam messages and calls. He urged regulators to discuss and implement measures such as (i) whitelisting URLs, APKs, OTT links, and callback numbers in SMS, (ii) transitioning existing telemarketers making promotional calls to the 140 series on the DLT platform, and (iii) requiring the full disclosure of telemarketers involved in the PE-TM chain.

The meeting explored potential collaborative strategies to address unsolicited commercial communications (UCC) and fraud through telecom resources.
Whitelisting -Misuse of headers and templates has led to fraud through malicious links in messages. Mandatory whitelisting of URLs, APKs, OTT links, and callback numbers in content templates and the full disclosure of telemarketers engaged in the PE-TM chain, as per TRAI’s latest directions, need to be enforced.

Many businesses make commercial voice calls using SIP/PRI lines, violating TRAI regulations. These entities should be moved to the designated 140 series for promotional calls, and immediate action should be taken against spammers using PRI/SIP/bulk connections for promotional or pre-recorded calls.
The DCA system, established by telecom service providers, is valuable for both messaging and voice calls, allowing messages and calls to reach recipients despite DND preferences. Regulators were encouraged to prompt entities under their jurisdiction to use this system promptly.

The 160 series has been allocated exclusively for service and transactional calls. A pilot study by TRAI and RBI on the technical feasibility of various options was discussed. Emphasis was placed on sharing information across regulatory platforms to effectively combat fraud.

By addressing these issues collectively, the JCoR aims to protect consumers from the harms of spam and fraud while ensuring a more secure and efficient telecom ecosystem.