Introduces termination charge levy for application-to-person calls
New Delhi: The telecom regulator on Friday tightened anti-spam norms, bringing AI detection of suspected spam numbers into the regulatory ambit, extending oversight to automated and robocalls, and introducing “deterrents” like a termination charge levy in case of Application-to-Person (A2P) calls used for bulk commercial communications.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) rules make it contingent on call management apps to share spam information with telcos if they want to offer a mechanism to their users to report Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC).
There is a “prohibition” on blanket blocking/tagging of designated number series – 1600/1601 meant for service and transactional calls and 140 series for regulated promotional calls – by call management applications, TRAI said, asserting its stance on an issue that had become a flashpoint between the regulator and Truecaller just a few months ago.
TRAI said that individual consumers retain full freedom to block or filter calls on their own devices.
The amended rules also provide for a consumer appeal mechanism against complaint resolutions; currently, this avenue is open for issues like bill discrepancies. The amended norms permit no more than seven days of follow-up commercial communication to be made when a verifiable customer inquiry is made to a company about its product or service (to prevent misuse of this provision, TRAI said the inquiry must be made in writing or through digital means and the sender must retain it in a verifiable form).
The provision is primarily aimed at facilitating communications by e-commerce and e-service platforms, according to TRAI.
The regulator has also set out an additional complaint-based trigger – three or more ‘unique’ complaints in 10 days combined with telcos’ AI/ML flag will enable earlier action against suspected spammers.
The AI/ML provisions require telecom service providers to identify sender numbers with a ‘high probability’ of being used for unsolicited commercial communication and share such information among operators.
Where five or more such numbers are flagged within 10 days, further investigation and graded action can follow, including KYC re-verification, physical verification and, in cases of repeated violations, disconnection of telecom resources.
The provisions of a TRAI’s February 2026 direction to telcos for using AI/ML-based intelligence for suspected spam crackdown have now been incorporated into the anti-spam rules (Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 or TCCCPR, 2018).
Certain numbering series, including 140, 1600 and 1601, remain outside the ambit of spam-flagging to ensure legitimate commercial and government communications are not missed by telecom users.
TRAI has defined application-to-person (A2P) calls as voice calls initiated by applications, software systems or automated platforms without direct human dialling, including autodialling, robocalls and pre-recorded or artificial voice calls.
Such calls will require mandatory prior declaration to the telecom service provider, including details of the numbers to be used. Undeclared A2P calls will be treated as spam, while a termination charge of up to 5 paise per minute will be levied as a deterrent (calls made through designated numbering series or authorised calls are exempted).
Consumers will now have the option to appeal against the resolution of a spam-related complaint, with an appeal to be filed within 15 days of the complaint being resolved.
Such appeals will be handled by the Appellate Authority under the Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal Regulations 2012. The appeal can be filed through the existing channels used for spam complaints, including the TRAI’s ‘do-not-disturb’ app, telecom service provider apps or portals and 1909, as well as other modes available under the consumer complaint framework.
