COAI Criticizes TRAI’s Increased Penalties on Telecom Firms for Spam Calls

The Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) has raised concerns over the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) latest amendments to curb spam calls and messages, citing disproportionately high penalties imposed on telecom operators. The industry body emphasized that while telecom companies have taken significant steps to mitigate unsolicited commercial communications (UCC), the rise of spam on Over-the-Top (OTT) communication platforms remains unregulated.

COAI Director General S.P. Kochhar stated that the surge in financial frauds linked to spam messages is largely due to an increase in commercial communication shifting to OTT apps. He argued that telecom operators, merely acting as intermediaries, should not bear the brunt of financial disincentives (FDs) imposed by TRAI. Instead, penalties should target telemarketers and entities directly responsible for originating and benefiting from these communications.

The association also expressed disappointment that TRAI’s amendments to the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018, were introduced without adequately addressing critical industry concerns. COAI maintains that a more balanced regulatory approach is necessary to effectively combat UCC while ensuring fair treatment of telecom service providers.

Source: Business Standard