1.24 lakh mobile connections barred or disconnected in spam drive

New Delhi: Regulator TRAI took enforcement action against more than 1.24 lakh telecom resources and blacklisted 374 entities for one year for violating unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) norms during July-September, as it stepped up efforts to curb spam calls and messages.

A total of 1,10,325 telecom resources, including mobile numbers, were barred from outgoing services for 15 days for the first violation, while 13,777 were disconnected for one year for repeat violations, according to TRAI’s quarterly report for the second quarter of 2026-27.

The regulator also blocked 3,725 SMS headers and blacklisted 374 senders for one year, during which they cannot obtain fresh telecom resources.

TRAI received 15.29 lakh complaints of unsolicited commercial communications during the quarter, of which 7.23 lakh were classified as actionable. The complaints were registered against a backdrop of 714.01 billion calls and 702.28 billion SMSes originating from telecom networks across the country.

The complaint rate worked out to about 2.14 per million outgoing calls, the report said.

The TRAI DND App remained the primary channel for reporting spam, accounting for 14.21 lakh, or 92.9 per cent, of all complaints received during the quarter. The app had recorded 42.36 lakh downloads by September 30.

The regulator said artificial intelligence-based systems deployed by telecom operators flagged 19.9 billion incoming calls and SMSes as suspected spam during the quarter. These included 18.28 billion calls and 1.62 billion SMSes.

Telecom operators also issued more than 45.9 lakh warning notifications to entities suspected of sending spam communications. They conducted electronic know-your-customer (e-KYC) verification of 34,025 suspected senders, while 9,977 were disconnected for failing KYC verification.

TRAI has introduced dedicated numbering series to help consumers distinguish promotional calls from service and transactional communications.

Promotional calls are routed through the 140 series, while the 1600 series is designated for service and transactional calls by entities in banking, financial services and insurance, as well as government-to-citizen communications. A separate 1601 series was introduced on August 10 for service and transactional calls from utilities, logistics and delivery companies.

During the quarter, 15.27 billion promotional calls originated through the 140 series, of which 1.70 billion were blocked after verification against registered Do Not Disturb preferences. Registered telemarketers also originated 660.71 billion commercial SMSes, while 11.09 billion promotional messages were blocked after preference verification.

The report showed that 22.449 crore consumers had registered their preferences on the DND registry as of September 30, representing 16.64 per cent of the country’s 134.9-crore subscriber base. More than 112 crore subscribers had not registered any preference and remained accessible to commercial communications from registered senders and telemarketers.

TRAI said consumer awareness initiatives during the quarter included campaigns across radio, television, newspapers and social media, as well as 322 physical consumer awareness programmes involving around 31,000 participants. More than 3 billion SMSes were also sent to consumers to promote the DND App.

The regulator compiles the quarterly enforcement data on the basis of information furnished by telecom service providers.

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