TRAI Tightens Anti-Spam Rules with AI Detection and A2P Call Regulation

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has notified the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2026, tightening the framework that governs unsolicited commercial communications under the 2018 regulations.

The amendment follows a consultation process that began with a draft issued on 13 March 2026. Stakeholders submitted comments by 19 April and counter-comments by 4 May, and an open house discussion was held on 3 June before the final regulations were framed.

AI/ML-based detection

Major telecom service providers have already deployed artificial intelligence and machine learning systems to flag suspected spam and alert customers. A direction issued on 27 February 2026 asked providers to share such intelligence between operators and investigate suspected senders. These provisions have now been written into the regulations through Regulation 21A, which requires providers to identify calling line identifications with a high probability of being used for spam and share that information across networks.

Where five or more CLIs linked to a sender are flagged within ten days, access providers will begin graded action, including KYC re-verification, physical verification, barring of outgoing services and disconnection in cases of repeated misuse. Numbering series reserved for commercial and government communications, such as 140xx, 1600xx and 1601xx, will not be flagged as suspected spam.

Application-to-Person calls

A2P calling, where calls are generated by software or automated platforms without direct human dialing, is now formally defined. Entities using such calls must pre-declare them to their service provider along with the CLIs to be used. Calls made without this declaration will be treated as unsolicited commercial communication. A termination charge of up to ₹0.05 per minute will apply, levied by the terminating access provider on the originating access provider, though calls on designated commercial numbering series and authority-authorised calls are exempt.

Inquiry-based communications

Commercial messages sent in response to a customer inquiry will be permitted only for seven days from the date of the inquiry. Such inquiries must be made in writing or through digital means and kept in a verifiable form by the sender. The change is aimed primarily at e-commerce and e-service platforms.

Consumer appeals and faster action

Consumers can now appeal against the resolution of their UCC complaints within 15 days before an appellate authority, with appeals handled under the Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal Regulations, 2012. Appeals may be filed through the TRAI DND app, service provider apps or portals, or by call or SMS to 1909.

Action against senders will now be triggered when there are three or more unique complaints within ten days and the sender's CLI is also flagged by the AI/ML system. Previously, the threshold was five complaints. Some timelines in the complaint mechanism have been revised to reflect practical implementation requirements.

Consent, headers and templates

The definition of consent has been widened to recognise legacy consents held by entities, provided they were obtained through verifiable means and are registered on the service providers' digital platform.

In cases of misuse of headers or content templates, the originating access provider must suspend the misused header or template within six hours of becoming aware of it and issue a notice to the sender. The sender must take remedial measures and file a complaint with law enforcement. If a telemarketer is responsible, all its telecom resources across service providers will be disconnected for one year and the entity blacklisted.