Trai Orders Telecom Firms To Act Against AI-Flagged Spammers Without Consumer Complaints

Telecom operators will now have to take action against suspected spam callers identified through artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning systems, even if consumers have not filed complaints, according to new regulations notified by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

The regulator has issued the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2026, introducing stricter measures against senders involved in unwanted commercial communications.

Under the new framework, telecom companies must share details of incoming calls marked as “suspected spam” by their AI-based systems with the originating access provider within two hours of detection.

The originating operator will then have to identify the sender using KYC details and share the information with other telecom companies within one business day.

New KYC checks and penalties for spam violations

All telecom operators will also be required to examine whether the suspected spammer has used other connections on their networks during the previous 10 days.

If five or more called line identifications (CLIs) linked to the sender are flagged during this period, operators will be required to take action against the sender.

For the first violation detected through AI systems, all outgoing services linked to the sender’s telecom resources will be blocked for 15 days, regardless of whether those connections were directly used for sending the spam communications.

For repeated violations, telecom resources including SIM cards, PRI and SIP trunks will be disconnected for one year. The sender will also be placed on a blacklist, and telecom operators will not provide new connections during this period.

Restrictions on caller ID applications

The new rules also state that call management applications and similar services will not be allowed to tag, block or filter calls originating from number series designated by Trai or the government for official and commercial communication.

However, consumers will continue to have the option to block or filter calls on their personal devices according to their own preferences.

The regulatory changes are aimed at strengthening the telecom sector’s response to spam calls by using technology-driven detection systems and ensuring quicker action against repeat offenders.