TRAI turns down DoT’s plea to regulate telemarketers

Consumers are unlikely to gain much relief from spam messages any time soon, as the telecom regulator is reportedly believed to have dismissed the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) request to place telemarketers under a dedicated regulatory framework.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) current anti‑spam rules pin responsibility on telecom operators, yet leave telemarketers, who aggregate and distribute commercial messages via telecom channels without any formal oversight, making them largely unaccountable. Carriers contend that since telemarketers send messages on behalf of businesses, those parties, not the operators should shoulder accountability and operators see themselves merely as intermediaries. Against this backdrop, the DoT had, last year, asked TRAI to suggest a mechanism that would bring telemarketers under regulatory control and hold them to accountability standards similar to those applied to operators, in an effort to curb unsolicited calls and texts.

The decision nonetheless spells continued bad news for users, who endure unwanted communications daily. Experts argue that once telemarketers fall under a licensing or regulatory regime, they can be made jointly responsible with operators for fighting spam and could face penalties for violations.

Additionally, TRAI levies monetary fines on operators for spam conveyed through their networks. Though carriers have contracts with telemarketers and are expected to recover these penalties from them, the arrangement falters because telemarketers frequently switch networks and operators have limited leverage to enforce terms.

So far, TRAI has imposed roughly Rs 1.41 billion in fines on operators for failing to rein in spam. The carriers have challenged these penalties before the telecom tribunal, asserting they should not be liable for actions they neither initiate nor manage.

Additionally, TRAI has issued several directives instructing operators to curb spam and phishing, yet despite these steps and involvement from multiple government departments, the problem persists unabated.