The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has amended the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018, introducing stricter measures to curb Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) and protect consumers from spam calls and messages.
The revised regulations aim to tackle evolving methods of telecom misuse, enhance consumer rights, and promote a more transparent commercial communication ecosystem.
Background and Need for Amendments
Since its implementation, TCCCPR-2018 has leveraged blockchain-based regulatory frameworks to combat spam. However, spammers have adapted their tactics, necessitating further regulatory enhancements. TRAI issued a Consultation Paper (CP) on August 28, 2024, seeking stakeholder opinions on:
- Redefining commercial communication categories
- Strengthening consumer complaint mechanisms
- Tightening norms for UCC action
- Increasing sender and telemarketer accountability
- Curbing misuse of 10-digit numbers for telemarketing
- Introducing stricter actions against Unregistered Telemarketers (UTMs)
The amendments announced today incorporate stakeholder feedback and extensive internal discussions to reinforce consumer rights, prevent telecom misuse, and balance economic activities with consumer protection.
Key Amendments in TCCCPR 2025
1. Ease of Reporting Spam & Revamped Complaint Mechanism
- Consumers can now file complaints against spam (UCC) calls/messages from unregistered senders without prior preference registration.
- A complaint will be considered valid if it contains essential details (complainant’s number, sender’s number, date, and brief details).
- Time limit for complaints extended from 3 days to 7 days after receiving spam.
- Access providers must prominently display complaint registration options in their mobile apps and websites.
- Mobile apps must auto-capture call logs/SMS details (with user permission) and allow complaint registration via screenshots.
- Stronger actions against UCC from unregistered senders:
- Complaint investigation time reduced from 30 days to 5 days.
- Action threshold reduced from 10 complaints in 7 days to 5 complaints in 10 days.
2. Empowering Customers
- Simpler opt-out process: Promotional messages must include a mandatory opt-out option.
- Standardized message headers for easy identification:
- “-P” for Promotional
- “-S” for Service
- “-T” for Transactional
- “-G” for Government messages
- Dedicated category for Government messages to ensure recipients do not miss important communications.
- Restrictions on unsolicited consent requests:
- Senders cannot request consent again for 90 days after a customer opts out.
- Customers can opt-in anytime at their discretion.
- Consent expiration limits:
- Consent for ongoing transactions now valid only for 7 days to prevent indefinite messaging.
- Inferred consent for service/transactional communications now valid only for the contract duration.
- Regulation of auto-dialers and robo-calls to prevent undue disturbances to consumers.
3. Stringent Measures Against Spammers
- Severe penalties for repeated violations:
- First Violation: Outgoing services of all telecom resources of the sender will be barred for 15 days.
- Subsequent Violations: Complete disconnection for one year, sender blacklisted across all Access Providers.
- New classification of UCC: Any call/message attempting to deceive customers will be treated as UCC, leading to swift telecom resource disconnection.
- Ban on the use of 10-digit numbers for telemarketing:
- Promotional calls: Must use the 140 series.
- Transactional & service calls: Must use the newly allocated 1600 series.
- Ensures easy identification based on Caller Line Identification (CLI).
4. Stricter Compliance for Access Providers
- Failure to enforce UCC regulations will result in heavy fines:
- Rs. 2 lakh for first offense
- Rs. 5 lakh for second offense
- Rs. 10 lakh per instance for repeated violations
- Access providers can impose security deposits on senders/telemarketers, forfeited upon regulation violations.
- Mandatory legally binding agreements between Access Providers and registered Senders/Telemarketers, specifying roles, responsibilities, and penalties for non-compliance.
5. Strengthening the Ecosystem
- Real-time spam detection:
- Telecom operators must analyze call & SMS patterns (e.g., high call volumes, short call durations, low incoming-to-outgoing ratios) to identify potential spammers.
- Telecom “honeypots” (dummy numbers) will log spam trends to preemptively block spammers.
- Stricter sender verification:
- Physical verification, biometric authentication, and mobile number linking required for sender/telemarketer registration.
- Detailed complaint records must be maintained to quickly identify and penalize violators.
- Limited intermediary involvement:
- Reducing Principal Entity (PE) – Telemarketer (TM) layers to ensure full traceability of commercial messages.
Implementation & Compliance Mandate
- The new regulations apply nationwide and will come into effect 30 days after publication in the Gazette of India.
- Regulation 8, Regulation 17, Sub-clauses (a) & (b) of Regulation 20, and Sub-clause (b) of Regulation 21 will take effect after 60 days.
- TRAI has directed Access Providers to ensure strict compliance and proactively detect/block violators.
By enhancing consumer control, increasing accountability, and leveraging AI-driven UCC detection, TRAI is setting a new standard for digital communication security in India.
All businesses, telemarketers, and telecom operators must align their systems with these regulations to avoid penalties and ensure a seamless, spam-free communication experience for consumers.