Govt takes action against 183,000 telecom resources, blacklists 263 senders in Q1 FY27
New Delhi, Aug 4
The government on Tuesday said that action was taken against 183,000 telecom resources, along with blacklisting of 263 senders in the first quarter this fiscal, as part of the enforcement action against Unsolicited Commercial Communications.
Enforcement targeted multiple layers - outgoing barring, long-term disconnection, sender blacklisting across all operators and SMS header blocking - to curb repeat violations, according to the Ministry of Communications.
Against 730.82 billion total calls originated in the telecom network in the country in Q1 FY27, total UCC complaints stood at 1.085 million -- approximately 1.5 complaints per million calls.
The TRAI DND App accounted for 89 per cent of all UCC complaints received by the Access Providers, said the Ministry.
Notably, AI-based spam detection flagged 24.43 billion suspected spam calls/SMSs, enabling consumers to exercise choice of either ignoring such communication or picking such communications with caution.
Over 243,000 warning notifications were issued to the suspected senders within one week of commencement of the sending warning notifications, the ministry informed.
Consumers can use the TRAI DND App, their telecom service provider's app or website, or call/ send SMS to 1909 to register and modify their Do Not Disturb (DND) preferences for blocking or receiving promotional communications from the senders from any or all the sectors.
"More than 1.12 billion subscribers have not registered any preference, and, hence, are accessible for all commercial communications from registered telemarketers and senders. The consumers desirous of controlling commercial communications can register their preferences on DND registry," the ministry noted.
Moreover, registered DND preferences enabled blocking of about 1.48 billion promotional calls and 7.30 billion promotional SMSs, demonstrating effective consumer preference enforcement.
About 13.16 billion promotional calls and 248.06 billion commercial SMS were routed through registered communication channels, said the ministry.
TRAI introduced the designated 140 series for promotional calls to ensure that such calls originate from a dedicated numbering series, enabling consumers to easily identify and manage such calls.
The calls originating from 140 series numbers are pre-verified against the preferences of the customers before delivery. The designated series enables the consumer to exercise the choice of accepting or declining the call.
The 1600 series was introduced for service and transactional calls by the entities in the Banking, Financial services and Insurance sector, and for the Government-to-citizen communication.
— IANS
Reader Comments
The TRAI DND app is quite useful, but why do only 89% of complaints come through it? Many elderly people don't know how to use these apps. The government should also focus on awareness campaigns in regional languages. 1.5 complaints per million calls might seem low, but for the common man, even one spam call is annoying!
Impressive numbers - 183,000 resources acted upon and 263 senders blacklisted. But I'm curious about the 1.12 billion subscribers who haven't registered any DND preference. That's a massive untapped potential for spam control. Maybe the government should make DND registration mandatory for all new SIM cards?
AI-based spam detection flagging 24.43 billion calls is impressive, but let's be honest - how many of us actually read those "Suspected Spam" labels? I usually just decline them anyway. The real test will be whether these blacklisted senders stay off the network permanently. In the past, they just come back with new numbers.
The 1600 series for banking and government calls is a smart move. I always hesitate to answer unknown numbers, and now I know if it's from a 1600 number, it's legit. But one concern - what about small businesses that send promotional SMS? The 140 series might hurt their marketing efforts. Hopefully there's a balance.
Respectfully, I think the government is doing too little too late. These spam calls have been a menace for years, and while these numbers look good on paper, the ground reality is different. Just yesterday I received three spam calls from numbers not in the 140 series. The
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.