Spam calls: TRAI bars 1.24 lakh telecom resources, disconnects repeat offenders

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) barred more than 1.24 lakh telecom resources from outgoing services and blacklisted 374 entities for one year for violating unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) rules during July-September, as the regulator intensified action against spam calls and messages.

According to TRAI's quarterly report for the second quarter of 2026-27, 1,10,325 telecom resources, including mobile numbers, were barred from outgoing services for 15 days for a first violation. Another 13,777 resources were disconnected for one year after repeat violations. The regulator also blocked 3,725 SMS headers and blacklisted 374 senders for a year. During this period, the blacklisted entities cannot obtain fresh telecom resources.

TRAI receives 15.29 lakh spam complaints

TRAI received 15.29 lakh complaints about unsolicited commercial communications during the quarter, of which 7.23 lakh were classified as actionable. The complaints came against the backdrop of 714.01 billion calls and 702.28 billion SMSes originating from telecom networks across the country. The complaint rate stood at around 2.14 per million outgoing calls, the report said. The TRAI DND App remained the main channel for reporting spam, accounting for 14.21 lakh complaints, or 92.9% of the total. The application had recorded 42.36 lakh downloads by September 30. Telecom operators' artificial intelligence-based systems 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. Operators also issued more than 45.9 lakh warning notifications to entities suspected of sending spam communications. They carried out electronic know-your-customer (e-KYC) verification of 34,025 suspected senders, while 9,977 were disconnected for failing the KYC verification process.

Promotional and service calls assigned separate number series

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 meant for service and transactional calls from 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 these, 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 following preference verification.

Over 22 crore consumers registered on DND registry

The report showed that 22.449 crore consumers had registered their communication preferences on the DND registry as of September 30. This represented 16.64% of the country's 134.9-crore subscriber base. More than 112 crore subscribers had not registered any preferences and remained accessible to commercial communications from registered senders and telemarketers. TRAI said its consumer awareness initiatives during the quarter included campaigns across radio, television, newspapers and social media. It also conducted 322 physical consumer awareness programmes, involving around 31,000 participants. In addition, more than 3 billion SMSes were sent to consumers to promote the DND App. The regulator said its quarterly enforcement data was compiled on the basis of information furnished by telecom service providers.