The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sought clarity from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on whether telecom operators’ bank guarantees (BGs) can be encashed to recover fines imposed for their failure to curb spam. This follows TRAI’s unprecedented recommendation to encash BGs for penalties amounting to Rs 1.41 billion, which remains unrealised.
There is no specific license clause addressing penalties for unsolicited commercial communications (UCC). Despite TRAI’s Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR) to check spam, there are no provisions in license for the DoT to penalise telcos. This could lead to legal challenges in encashing BGs, which are typically reserved for unpaid statutory payments. To address this, TRAI plans to issue a consultation paper proposing bringing telemarketers under its regulatory ambit.
