Key Points
- Complaints about spam calls dropped by 20% from August to October 2024.
- TRAI started strict rules in August, including disconnecting and blacklisting violators.
- New rules for traceable messaging were introduced, with a deadline of November 30, 2024.
- TRAI has held webinars to raise awareness, with more planned for November 2024.
- Over 13,000 Principal Entities (PEs) have registered their message chains with access providers.
Looma News
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) announced that complaints about spam calls have gone down after stricter rules were put in place in August 2024. The number of complaints dropped from 1.89 lakh in August to 1.51 lakh in October, a 20% decrease. TRAI’s new rules, announced in August, took tough actions against those breaking the rules on promotional calls. Offenders can now be disconnected, blacklisted for up to two years, and banned from receiving resources during this time. These actions have contributed to the decrease in complaints.
On August 20, TRAI also introduced rules to make sure that the messages sent by Principal Entities (PEs) and Telemarketers (TMs) can be traced. The deadline to fully implement these technical updates is November 30, 2024. TRAI extended the deadline to give more time for necessary improvements and for PEs and TMs to declare their message chains. The authority has been running webinars to raise awareness about these changes. The first webinar was held on November 12 with Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL), followed by another on November 19 with Vodafone Idea (VIL). A third webinar is planned for November 25 with Tata Teleservices.
So far, more than 13,000 PEs have registered their message chains with access providers, and more are still signing up. TRAI has urged all PEs and TMs to complete their chain declarations soon, warning that any message not following the approved telemarketer chain will be rejected.
