TRAI gives Telcos 30-day deadline to check misuse of telemarketing message

TRAI has directed telecom operators to take action against misuse of telemarketing messages templates within 30 days to curb pesky messages. The regulator has noticed some telemarketers are misusing headers and content templates of enterprises. TRAI has issued a direction to stop misuse of message templates under Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018).  

 TRAI has directed telecom operators to make changes in the code of practices (CoPs) around headers and content templates of telemarketing messages under the TCCCPR 2018 rules and comply with the direction within 30 days. Instead of mobile numbers, the authorized telemarketing messages display headers which are indicative of the company from which it has come. 

The look-alike message titles or headers are creating confusion among recipients of messages and are being misused by some of the entities for their gains. TRAI said that the number of variables in a template is not defined in CoPs, which leads to misuse of the same, and moreover, the promotional content is being passed in the variable portions of content templates. 

As per the regulator, “In order to minimize the said misuse, the number of variables allowed in content template needs to be limited in a way that not only gives PEs (Principal Entities) enough flexibility to phrase their content but at the same time, there are reasonable restrictions on number and placement of variables”. 

TRAI has directed telecom operators to re-verify all headers registered on blockchain based messaging platforms within 30 days and block unverified headers. It has also asked telecom operators to develop a system within 60 days to temporarily deactivate all headers which remain unused for 30 days.