TRAI may soon show strictness regarding data sharing of call management apps like TrueCaller. Telecom regulator TCCCPR is preparing to change the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation. An amendment has been proposed to this rule, which provides that call management apps will have to share information about spam reported by users with the regulator.
Recently, the telecom regulator has also issued a clarification regarding the blocking of calls starting with numbers 1600 and 140 by call management apps as spam. For this, the regulator had recently demanded MeitY to take action against call management apps Truecaller, Hiya and Whoscall.
Preparation for strictness on call management apps
This decision of TRAI was also criticized by TrueCaller CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala. Now TRAI has issued a clarification regarding this. The regulator has prepared changes in the regulation TCCCPR made for commercial communication. The government can finalize this amendment soon. Feedback is being taken from stakeholders regarding this.
At present, data about numbers flagged as spam by users on call management apps is not shared with the telecom regulator. After this new amendment in TCCCPR, apps like TrueCaller will have to share this data with TRAI. In this data, details of numbers flagged by users on the app, receiving users and the time of the call will also have to be shared with TRAI.
TRAI’s clarification
TRAI has recently clarified in its latest guidelines that 1600 series phone numbers are only for banking, financial services and insurance companies, which have been authorized by the Reserve Bank of India, SEBI and insurance regulator IRDA. This number series has been reserved for communication between government and citizens. In such a situation, the number starting with this cannot be blocked by any platform or app under TCCCPR.
It also says that numbers starting with 1600 can neither be filtered nor tagged as spam calls. Only calls coming from 140 series can be blocked through TRAI DND app.
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SK Sharma is a content writer who writes on news, entertainment, and lifestyle topics. She has over four years of experience and is known for conveying information in simple and clear language.
