Parliament Question: Curbing spam calls and messages

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1454 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12TH FEBRUARY, 2026 CURBING SPAM CALLS AND MESSAGES 1454 SHRI YERRAM VENKATA SUBBA REDDY: Will the Minister of Communications be pleased to state: (a) the reasons as to why Government and telecom operators have failed to curb spam calls and messages in spite of No Call Register and other moves; (b) whether it is a fact that TRAI has recently imposed ₹ 150 crores penalty on telecom operators for their failure to curb spam calls and messages; (c) if so, the details thereof; (d) whether Government considers penalizing as a solution; (e) whether Government is aware that complaints from consumers have been wrongly closed by telecom service providers; and (f) if so, the action taken by Government in such cases? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR) (a) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) governs Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) under the regulatory framework viz. Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR). TRAI has adopted two-pronged strategy, which involves provisions for legitimate commercial communications by the registered entities, and measures to curb UCC from unregistered senders. Notable actions taken by TRAI are as follows: i. As per TRAI’s mandate, more than 3 lakh senders and 21,000 telemarketers have been registered on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform. ii. A customer who does not want to receive promotional communication from Registered Telemarketer (RTM), can register their preferences and lodge complaints against UCC within 7 days through any of the following means: a. using TRAI Do Not Disturb (DND) Mobile App, b. through Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) App or web portal, c. by sending SMS to short code to 1909, d. by calling on 1909. In addition to above channels, complaints can also be lodged on Sanchar Saathi portal of Department of Telecommunications (DoT). 1iii. TRAI has mandated the use of – a. 140 series numbers for making promotional calls, and b. registered headers for sending any commercial SMS. In December 2025, more than 7.5 crore SMS and voice calls were blocked per day by DLT system on an average, based on the preferences of the customers. iv. Based on the complaints received, it is observed that majority of the UCC is from UTMs who use regular 10-digit numbers instead of 140 series bypassing the DLT platform and therefore customer preferences. To tackle this, major TSPs have implemented AI-based solutions to detect suspected spam and alert the customers. v. TRAI has prescribed to use special 1600 series for financial sector for making service and transactional calls to enable consumers to distinguish such calls. (b) to (f) Under the TCCCPR the obligations of the TSPs and Telemarketers have been defined. The TSPs have also established their CoPs (Code of Practices) to be followed by them & Telemarketers, to ensure the compliance with the Regulatory provisions. Only in the event of non- compliance of the regulatory provisions by the TSPs, regulatory action is initiated by TRAI against the TSPs by imposing Financial Disincentives (FDs), in accordance with the applicable Regulations. TRAI has imposed FDs of Rs. 153.8 crore on the TSPs for non-compliance of TCCCPR. The non- compliance includes closing customer complaints about UCC without due diligence in contravention of the provisions of the Regulations. ***** 2