TRAI Cracks Down On Spam Calls, Acts Against Over 1.24 Lakh Telecom Resources

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) took enforcement action against more than 1.24 lakh telecom resources and blacklisted 374 entities during July-September 2026 for violating unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) regulations.

According to its second-quarter report for 2026-27, the regulator restricted outgoing services for 110,325 telecom resources for 15 days following first-time violations.

Another 13,777 resources were disconnected for one year over repeated offences, while 3,725 SMS headers were blocked.

The blacklisted entities cannot obtain fresh telecom resources for one year.

TRAI recorded 15.29 lakh complaints involving unwanted commercial calls and messages during the quarter, of which 7.23 lakh were considered actionable.

The TRAI Do Not Disturb (DND) App accounted for 14.21 lakh complaints, representing 92.9% of the total.

App downloads reached 42.36 lakh by Sept 30.

Artificial intelligence-based systems deployed by telecom operators identified 19.9 billion suspected spam communications, comprising 18.28 billion calls and 1.62 billion SMSes.

Operators also issued more than 45.9 lakh warning notifications and conducted electronic know-your-customer (e-KYC) verification of 34,025 suspected senders.

Another 9,977 connections were disconnected after unsuccessful KYC verification.

TRAI has introduced separate numbering series to help consumers identify different categories of commercial communication.

The 140 series covers promotional calls, while 1600 identifies service and transactional calls from financial institutions and government agencies.

The 1601 series, introduced on Aug 10, covers utilities, logistics and delivery services.

During the quarter, operators blocked 1.70 billion promotional calls and 11.09 billion promotional SMSes after checking consumer preferences.

As of Sept 30, approximately 22.449 crore consumers had registered DND preferences, representing 16.64% of India's 134.9 crore telecom subscribers.

TRAI also conducted 322 consumer awareness programmes involving approximately 31,000 participants.

The regulator said its enforcement figures were compiled from information submitted by telecom service providers.