TRAI Extends Deadline For Move Aimed At Curbing Misuse Of Messaging Services

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New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday granted a one-month extension to access service providers to comply with its direction regarding the whitelisting of URLs, APKs and OTT links. TRAI had earlier asked major telecom operators in the country to regulate messages containing URLs, OTT link, APK files and phone numbers unless they are whitelisted by September 1.

The move is aimed at curbing the number of spam and phishing attempts by scammers who try to dupe people using SMS service. The telecom regulator has now directed all access providers to furnish to the authority an updated status on action taken within 15 days and a compliance report within 30 days from date of issue of this direction.

The revised direction mandates that all access providers ensure that traffic containing URLs/APKs/OTT links, which are not whitelisted, is not permitted with effect from October 1. “This step aims to curb the misuse of Headers and Content Templates, ensuring a more secure and efficient telecom ecosystem. Further, in consideration of the issues brought out by Access Providers, the revised timeline for implementing call back numbers will be fixed separately,” said TRAI.

On August 20, the Centre mandated access service providers to take concrete measures to curb misuse of messaging services, effective from September 1. All access service providers were to be prohibited from transmitting messages containing URLs, APKs, OTT links, or call back numbers which are not whitelisted by the senders.

To deter the misuse of templates for promotional content, TRAI has introduced punitive measures for non-compliance. “Content templates registered under the wrong category will be blacklisted, and repeated offenses will lead to a one-month suspension of the sender’s services,” said the government. The telecom regulator said that the revocation of traffic from the sender shall be done only after legal action is taken by the sender against such misuse.