Telecom companies blacklist 1,150 entities, disconnect over 18.8 lakh resources: Centre

Telecom service providers have blacklisted 1,150 entities/individuals and disconnected more than 18.8 lakh resources, the government said on Wednesday, as it aims to further control the spread of spam calls and messages.

The actions led to a significant reduction in the complaints against unregistered telemarketers (UTMs) -- from 1,89,419 in August 2024 to 1,34,821 in January 2025, Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, told the Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) amended the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018 on February 12.

A customer can now make a complaint about spam/unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) within seven days of receiving spam as compared to earlier three-day time limit.

The time limit for taking action by the access providers against the UCC from unregistered senders has been reduced from 30 days to 5 days, according to the amendments.

To ensure prompt action against the senders of UCC, the criterion for taking action against them has been revised and made more stringent.
As compared to earlier criterion of "having 10 complaints against the sender in last 7 days" to trigger action, it has been modified to "having 5 complaints against the sender in last 10 days", according to the TRAI.

These amendments will come into force after 30 days from the date of their publication in the official gazette.

Moreover, the TRAI recently issued directions to disconnect all telecom resources of unregistered senders/UTMs, which are being used for making spam calls and to blacklist such senders.

Last month, the government warned telecom services providers of fine up to Rs 10 lakh over failure to implement revised regulations dealing with unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) and SMSes.

The amendments to the TCCCPR, 2018 aim to deal with evolving methods of misuse of telecom resources and promote a more transparent commercial communication ecosystem for consumers.