The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has tightened its framework against unsolicited commercial communication, requiring telecom operators to deploy artificial intelligence and machine learning systems to detect suspected spam calls and introducing a termination charge of ₹0.05 per minute on automated robocalls.
The measures were announced under the third amendment to the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018. The framework covers application-to-person (A2P) calls, which are used by entities to make bulk calls to consumers. Regular commercial calls will remain exempt from the new termination charge.
Entities using A2P calling must pre-declare such usage to their telecom service providers and identify the numbers that will be used. If they fail to make this declaration, calls made through those numbers will be treated as spam, according to the framework reported by Economic Times.
Telecom operators must also share spam intelligence with one another after deploying the AI and machine learning systems. If five or more numbers linked to a sender are flagged within a 10-day period, operators will be required to begin graded action. This can include re-verification of know-your-customer details, physical verification, barring outgoing services and, in cases of repeated violations, disconnection of telecom services.
The new rules also create a consumer appeals mechanism, allowing users to challenge action taken under the anti-spam framework. The measure is intended to provide a formal route for disputes as automated detection becomes a larger part of how commercial communication is classified.
Trai has separately protected calls originating from the 1600 and 140 number series from being flagged as spam by telecom operators. These number series are used for regulated commercial and official communications. The regulator has also barred call management apps from blanket blocking, filtering or spam-tagging calls from these numbers.
Trai said such blanket treatment could result in genuine commercial and government communications being wrongly labelled as spam. The restriction is designed to ensure that safeguards in the regulatory framework are not bypassed by third-party call management applications.
The new system places responsibilities across the telecom communication chain. Businesses must declare their A2P calling activity and numbers, operators must identify and share suspected spam intelligence, and consumers receive an appeals channel against classification decisions. The ₹0.05-per-minute charge applies to automated calls, while ordinary commercial calls remain outside the charge mechanism.
