Significant decline in spam calls in India After TRAI's crackdown, minister tells Parliament

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In response to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, provided an update on the efforts to tackle spam calls in India.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has been actively addressing spam communications, including unsolicited commercial calls and messages, through the Telecommunications Commercial Communications Consumers Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018). These regulations, along with subsequent directives, have established measures to curb the growing issue of spam calls in the country, the minister said.

Some of the key provisions of the law include:

Telecom subscribers can register preferences to block all commercial communications or selectively block messages based on categories. Complaints against senders of Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) can be lodged via a mobile app, by sending an SMS to the short code 1909 or by calling 1909.

Registered entities and telemarketers found violating the regulations face blacklisting, with stringent action taken against unregistered telemarketers (UTMs). This can involve warnings, usage caps, or disconnections for repeat offenders.

Financial disincentives have also been introduced for Access Providers who fail to curb UCC effectively.

Further strengthening the crackdown on spam calls, TRAI issued additional directives on 13 August 2024, mandating that any entity making promotional voice calls in violation of the regulations would face severe penalties. Following this move, Access Providers have taken significant action, resulting in a notable reduction in complaints related to UCC.

According to the minister's statement, by the end of October, 1,150 entities and individuals had been blacklisted, and 18.8 lakh telecom resources had been disconnected for non-compliance. The number of complaints against unregistered telemarketers dropped significantly between August and October, showing a steady decline.

Of the 1,89,419 complaints registered in August, 1,63,167 were filed in September, which was a 13% decline. In October, the complaints went down to 1,51,497 (a 20% reduction compared to August), the minister said.

"These figures highlight the effectiveness of the measures in addressing spam calls, providing relief to Indian telecom consumers. The continued efforts by TRAI and Access Providers are expected to further reduce spam communications, improving the overall user experience for mobile phone users across the country," the Ministry of Communications stated in a press release.