The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday issued directions for enforcement of measures to curb the misuse of messaging services and protect consumers from fraudulent practices. Through a direction the TRAI has mandated all Access Service Providers (ASPs) to migrate telemarketing calls starting with 140 series to online Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform latest by 30th September 2024 for better monitoring and control.
To enhance message traceability, TRAI has mandated that the trail of all messages from Senders to recipients must be traceable from 1st November 1, 2024. "Any message with an undefined or mismatched telemarketer chain will be rejected. To deter the misuse of templates for promotional content, TRAI has introduced punitive measures for non-compliance. Content Templates registered under the wrong category will be blacklisted, and repeated offenses will lead to a one-month suspension of the Sender’s services," the TRAI has stated in its direction.
Effective from 1st September 2024, all ASPs will be prohibited from transmitting messages containing URLs, APKs, OTT links, or call back numbers which are not whitelisted by the Senders. "To enhance message traceability, TRAI has mandated that the trail of all messages from Senders to recipients must be traceable from November 1, 2024. Any message with an undefined or mismatched telemarketer chain will be rejected. To deter the misuse of templates for promotional content, TRAI has introduced punitive measures for non-compliance. Content Templates registered under the wrong category will be blacklisted, and repeated offenses will lead to a one-month suspension of the Sender’s services," the TRAI's direction stated.
"To ensure compliance with regulations, all Headers and Content Templates registered on DLT must adhere to prescribed guidelines. Additionally, a single Content Template cannot be linked to multiple Headers. In case misuse of headers or content templates of any Sender comes to the notice, TRAI has directed immediate suspension of traffic from all the Headers and Content Templates of that Sender for their verification. Revocation of traffic from the Sender shall be done only after legal action is taken by the Sender against such misuse. Further, Delivery-Telemarketers must identify and report entities responsible for such misuse within two business days, failing which they will face similar consequences. These measures have been taken to ensure a clean and secure messaging ecosystem, safeguarding consumer interests and preventing fraudulent activities," the direction further stated.
