Delhi Delhi. From December 1, 2024, commercial messages sent by telemarketers or businesses that are not traceable, or do not comply with the new traceability mandate, will be rejected by the telecom system and will not be delivered to customers. This directive issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) aims to improve transparency and security in the telecom ecosystem.
The primary goal of the new regulation is to prevent spam and phishing threats, especially threats associated with the misuse of one-time passwords (OTP). With fraudulent messages and cyber threats becoming a growing concern, TRAI has mandated that all commercial messages sent by businesses or principal entities (PEs), including banks, e-commerce platforms and financial institutions, must be traceable. This means that the system must be able to track the message from its sender to the recipient.
Initially, the rules were scheduled to come into effect on October 1; however, following requests from telecom operators, the deadline was first extended to November 1 and then to November 30, giving more time to adjust to the new rules. Operators such as Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and Reliance Jio raised concerns about the challenges posed by these new rules, especially the transition to messages from banks, telemarketers and businesses that may not be fully prepared. TRAI’s decision to extend the deadline is aimed at striking a balance between regulatory requirements and the operational challenges faced by telecom companies.
