TRAI proposes disconnecting pesky callers' services based on telcos' AI spam alerts

New Delhi: Pesky or fraudulent callers and messaging entities may lose their phone connections if their numbers are flagged through the AI spam alert service of telecom operators, even without subscribers' complaints, according to a draft proposal by regulator Trai issued on Friday.

The draft Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2026, propose disconnecting all connections associated with the violator, even if they were not misused for spam calls and messages.

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The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has proposed changes based on the feedback from stakeholders during various interactions, as well as in light of recent developments like the implementation of AI-based detection of unsolicited commercial communications (UCC) by major access providers.

Telecom operators have been claiming to have developed an effective AI-based technology to detect spam calls and messages based on caller behaviour, and they warn customers to be wary of those calls before attending to them.

Trai has proposed that the telecom operator, on whose network the suspected spam communication lands, should, within two hours, share the details of the caller with the originating access provider (OAP) - the telecom firm from whose network the suspected call has originated - using blockchain technology that has been implemented for mapping spam.

The OAP will issue a notice to the suspected pesky callers through SMS, email, or both about the number being flagged as spam.

The OAP will need to restart KYC of the flagged caller within one day of getting the receipt from Terminating Access Provider (TAP) on whose network the communication was made, and identify all telecom connections allotted to them.

The access provider will then need to check if another connection allotted to the suspected caller has also been flagged by the AI system of any telecom operator in the last 10 days, and share the information with other telecom operators as well.

If a suspected caller's telecom connection has appeared in spam alerts of other telcos, then those telecom operators will also need to act against the violator.

Telecom operators will need to carry out re-verification of the suspected spammer within three business days of getting an alert.

In the second instance of a violation or number being flagged, the OAP will need to carry out physical KYC verification of the sender to ensure that telecom connections allotted to them are not being misused.

"In case KYC details of the sender, available with OAP, do not match with the details obtained on physical verification, or if it is found that the telecom resources are being misused by the sender for sending UCC in violation of the provisions of the regulations, outgoing services of all telecom resources including PRI/SIP trunks, SIMs etc. allotted to the sender shall be barred by all the access providers for a period of fifteen days," Trai said.

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In case of any subsequent violation, the OAP would need to carry out physical KYC verification within five days, and in case of breach, all telecom connections of the spammer will have to be disconnected by all telecom operators for a period of one year, irrespective of whether those telecom resources were actually used or not in making UCC.

Even the devices used for making UCC would be blocked across all the telecom operators for a period of one year.

Trai said that it has also proposed some new provisions to make the regulatory framework more effective and efficient in the proposed amendment.

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