The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India amended its rules on unsolicited commercial calls and messages on 18 September, requiring operators to act on numbers their AI systems flag as likely spam [1].
Operators must identify callers' numbers with a high probability of sending spam and share them with each other. Where five or more numbers linked to one sender are flagged within ten days, operators must investigate [1].
That can lead to re-verification of the sender's identity, barring outgoing services, and disconnection for repeated misuse [1].
What it covers
Telecom operators in India, and the businesses and telemarketers that send commercial communications [1].
Calls made by software, including auto-dialled, robo-calls and recorded or artificial voices, must now be declared to the operator in advance, with the numbers used. Undeclared ones will be treated as spam [1].
Action against a sender can now start with 3 unique complaints in ten days, down from 5, if the sender's number is also flagged by AI detection [1].
Consumers can appeal against how their spam complaints were resolved, within 15 days [1].
Businesses may market to a customer who made an inquiry for only seven days afterwards, and the inquiry must be recorded in writing or digitally [1].
What it does not tell you
Whether spam will fall, or how accurate the operators' AI systems are. The release sets out rules, not results [1].
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