Will this finally end consumer harassment? – Indian Television

In a new move to combat the growing number of spam calls and scams, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued new directives aimed at blocking unregistered telemarketers and cutting off their telecom resources. This action is in line with the Telecommunications Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR) 2018 and aims to provide much-needed help to consumers across the country.

How to block spam calls: New TRAI directives

The latest TRAI directive further makes it mandatory for all access service providers to immediately stop promotional voice calls originating from unregistered broadcasters or telemarketers (UTM) using telecom resources such as SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and PRI (Basic Rate Interface). The main directives include:

Immediate Blocking of Telecom Resources: All promotional voice calls from unregistered senders or telemarketers using SIP or PRI resources must be terminated immediately.

Disconnect and blacklist offenders: If an unregistered broadcaster is found making commercial voice calls that result in consumer complaints, the initiating access provider (OAP) will disconnect all telecom resources of the broadcaster for a period of up to 2 years, TRAI says.

In addition, the broadcaster will be blacklisted from all access providers for the same period.

Information sharing between providers: Once a sender is blacklisted, information will be made available to all access providers via the DLT platform within 24 hours, further ensuring that all resources allocated to the offending sender are disconnected.

No new resources during blacklisting: During the blacklisting period, no access provider will assign any telecommunications resources to the offender.

Can these directives finally put an end to spam calls?

For years, Indian consumers have been annoyed, stressed and bombarded with spam calls. These calls are initially made by unregistered telemarketers who use readily available telecommunications resources.

These calls are often promotional in nature and have become a major source of irritation during this period. They are disrupting the lives of millions of citizens across the country. TRAI’s new guidelines on spam calls give new hope that this harassment can finally come to an end.

By cutting off telecom resources to unregistered telemarketers, TRAI is tackling the problem at its source. A two-year ban on resource use and blacklisting of offenders ensures that it will be much more difficult for habitual violators to continue operating.

This move is expected to significantly reduce the number of spam calls (which annoys users), especially from unregistered telemarketers who have evaded detection in the past.

Will this be enough to end spam harassment?

While these measures represent a strong step in the right direction, the question remains whether they are enforceable and effective in the long term.

The new TRAI guidelines further aim to bring all unregistered telemarketers under the DLT platform within a month, but ensuring compliance across the telecom industry could be a challenge.

Regular monitoring and tough penalties will also be crucial to the success of these laws.

Additionally, by blocking telecommunications resources, you can reduce the number of spam calls, which may prove to be a new way to circumvent regulations.

Therefore, consumers must remain vigilant and report suspicious calls to help TRAI enforce these rules effectively.

Certainly, TRAI’s latest move is a major and important step towards curbing spam call harassment in India, which is plaguing millions of users who can’t do anything about it.

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