TRAI tightens spam rules, brings AI detection into regulatory framework

New Delhi: Telecom regulator TRAI on Friday strengthened its rules against unsolicited commercial communications (UCC), incorporating artificial intelligence-based detection of suspected spam and introducing a consumer appeal mechanism.

The amended framework requires telecom service providers to identify numbers with a high probability of being used for spam and share this information with one another.

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Repeated flags to trigger investigation

If five or more numbers linked to a sender are flagged within 10 days, further investigation and graded action will follow. Measures include KYC re-verification, physical verification, barring outgoing services and disconnection for repeated violations.

The amendments also strengthen complaint-based action and safeguards against the misuse of message headers and content templates.

Mandatory declarations for automated calls

TRAI has defined Application-to-Person (A2P) calls as those initiated by an application, software system or automated platform without direct human dialling. These include autodialled calls, robocalls and calls using pre-recorded or artificial voices.

Entities using A2P calls must declare their use and the associated phone numbers to their telecom service provider in advance. Calls made without this declaration will be treated as UCC.

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The regulator has also introduced a termination charge of up to 5 paise per minute for A2P calls, with specified exemptions. Calls using numbering series designated by TRAI for regulated commercial calls, as well as calls authorised by the regulator, will be exempt.

Protection for designated calling series

The amendments prohibit call-management applications from blanket blocking, filtering or spam-tagging calls originating from the designated 140xx, 1600xx and 1601xx numbering series.

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