**Executive Summary**
This document presents the Indian government's strategy to protect critical telecom infrastructure and reduce telecom fraud, in response to a parliamentary question. It details measures including legal provisions, technology initiatives like Sanchar Saathi and Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), and coordination efforts with law enforcement, financial institutions, and telecom service providers. The information was to be provided on February 11th, 2026.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **Legal Framework:**
* Section 42 of the Telecommunications Act, 2023 defines offences related to unauthorised telecom services, fraudulent SIM acquisition, and tampering with telecom equipment.
* **Critical Telecom Infrastructure (CTI) Rules:**
* The Telecommunications (Critical Telecommunication Infrastructure) Rules, 2024 (notified 22.11.2024) prescribe security standards, practices, upgradation requirements, and procedures for CTI.
* **Citizen-Centric Initiatives (Sanchar Saathi):**
* The Sanchar Saathi web portal and mobile app allow citizens to report suspected fraud, identify connections in their name, verify handset genuineness, and report stolen handsets.
* Key performance indicators from Sanchar Saathi include:
* Recovery of lost/stolen mobile handsets: 8.46 lakhs (All India), 1.63 lakhs (AP & Telangana)
* Mobile connections disconnected based on citizen reports ('Not My Number/Not Required'): 2.28 crores (All India), 21.5 lakhs (AP & Telangana)
* Mobile connections disconnected based on citizens' reports related to fraud: 39.53 lakhs (All India), 3.46 lakhs (AP & Telangana)
* **Technical Measures for Fraud Prevention:**
* Blocking of incoming international spoofed calls leading to a 99% reduction in call attempts.
* ASTR, an AI-based tool for identifying SIMs taken in different names, has led to disconnection of over 88 lakh mobile connections that failed re-verification.
* Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) is used to categorise suspicious mobile numbers based on the risk of financial fraud. Financial institutions have reported preventing potential frauds amounting to over ₹1400 crores through the use of FRI.
* **Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP):**
* The DIP serves as a secure platform for information sharing among stakeholders, including central security agencies, state police, I4C, banks, UPI service providers, PSOs, and TSPs.
* Over 1200 organizations are on-boarded on DIP.
**Impact Analysis**
**Citizens**
* **Impact:** Enhanced protection from cyber fraud related to telecommunications, ability to report and recover stolen handsets, and to identify potentially fraudulent activity related to their identity.
* **Action Required:** Use Sanchar Saathi to report fraud, verify connections in their name, and report stolen handsets.
**Telecom Service Providers (TSPs)**
* **Impact:** Obligation to comply with Telecommunications Act, 2023 and Critical Telecommunication Infrastructure Rules, 2024.
* **Action Required:** Implement security practices, upgradation requirements, and procedures for CTI; collaborate with DoT on measures to prevent fraud and misuse of telecom resources.
**Law Enforcement Agencies (including Central Security Agencies and State Police)**
* **Impact:** Increased cooperation with TSPs, DoT, and financial institutions to prevent cyber-crime and financial fraud.
* **Action Required:** Utilize DIP for information sharing; collaborate with other stakeholders on fraud prevention measures.
**Financial Institutions (Banks, NBFCs, UPI Service Providers, PSOs)**
* **Impact:** Ability to leverage Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) to identify high-risk mobile numbers and implement enhanced security measures.
* **Action Required:** Utilize FRI to prioritize enforcement, adopt real-time response protocols, and protect customers from fraud. Onboard on DIP.
Key Entities Referenced
Telecommunications Act, 2023: Specifies offenses related to telecommunication services and infrastructure.
Department of Telecommunications (DoT): Undertakes measures to prevent misuse of telecommunications and protect against cyber fraud.
Sanchar Saathi: Citizen-centric initiative to report fraud, track mobile connections, and verify handsets.
Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP): Secure platform for information sharing among stakeholders to prevent misuse of telecom resources in cyber-crimes and fraud.
The Telecommunications (Critical Telecommunication Infrastructure) Rules, 2024: Prescribes standards, security practices and procedures for Critical Telecommunication Infrastructure (CTI).
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS
DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1978
TO BE ANSWERED ON 11TH FEBRUARY, 2026
PROTECTION OF CRITICAL TELECOM INFRASTRUCTURE AND REDUCTION OF
TELECOM FRAUD
1978. SHRI P V MIDHUN REDDY:
Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:
(a) the details of the strategy of the Government to protect critical telecom infrastructure and
address fraud vectors such as SIM misuse, illegal gateways, call spoofing and related cyber-enabled
offences;
(b) whether any targeted or enhanced measures have been deployed in Andhra Pradesh following
recent large-scale telecom and financial fraud cases and if so, the details thereof;
(c) the details of the key performance indicators or metrics used by the Government to assess
effectiveness in fraud reduction and user protection; and
(d) the steps taken to strengthen coordination with law enforcement agencies, telecom service
providers and financial institutions to prevent recurrence of such frauds and protect citizens from
financial losses?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR)
(a) To protect critical telecom infrastructure and address fraud vectors such as SIM misuse,
illegal gateways, call spoofing and related cyber-enabled offences, Government has taken several
measures, inter-alia, including the following –
I. Section 42 of the Telecommunications Act, 2023 prescribes following as an offence:
i. providing telecommunication services or establishing telecommunication network
without authorisation or causing damage to critical telecommunication
infrastructure.
ii. obtaining Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) or other telecommunication
identifiers through fraud, cheating or personation.
iii. possessing radio equipment without an authorisation or an exemption that can
accommodate more than specified number of SIMs.
iv. tampering with telecommunication identifiers or willfully possessing radio
equipment knowing that it uses unauthorised or tampered telecommunication
identifiers.
II. The Telecommunications (Critical Telecommunication Infrastructure) Rules, 2024
have been notified on 22.11.2024 prescribing standards, security practices, upgradation
requirements and procedures for Critical Telecommunication Infrastructure (CTI).
1(b) & (c) The measures undertaken by Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to prevent
the misuse of telecommunications resources and to protect citizens against cyber fraud on pan India
basis, including Andhra Pradesh (AP) and their effectiveness is as follows:
I. DoT has developed Sanchar Saathi, a citizen centric initiative, available as web portal
(www.sancharsaathi.gov.in) and mobile App, which facilitates citizens to report
suspected fraud communications, to know mobile connections in their name, to report
lost/ stolen mobile handsets, to check genuineness of mobile handset etc. The key
performance indicators of actions initiated based on Sanchar Saathi are provided in
table below:
Parameter All India figures AP Licensed Service Area
(includes the states of AP
and Telangana)
Recovery of lost/ stolen 8.46 lakhs 1.63 lakhs
mobile handsets
Mobile connections 2.28 crores 21.5 lakhs
disconnected based on
reporting by the citizens as
‘Not My Number’ or ‘Not
Required’
Mobile connections 39.53 lakhs 3.46 lakhs
disconnected based on
inputs provided by the
citizens related to suspected
fraud communications
II. DoT and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have devised a system to identify and block
incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers. The system has
resulted in almost 99% reduction in such call attempts.
III. DoT has developed an indigenous Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data analytics tool
ASTR to identify SIMs taken by same person in different names. Based on ASTR, more
than 88 lakh mobile connections have been disconnected failing reverification.
IV. DoT has developed Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI) which is a risk-based metric
that categorizes a suspicious mobile number according to its probability of being
associated with medium, high, or very high risk of financial fraud. FRI empowers
stakeholders – especially banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), and UPI
service providers – to prioritize enforcement and take additional customer protection
measures like enhanced due diligence and adoption of necessary real-time response
protocols (alerts, transaction delays, warnings, transaction decline etc.) for flagged
mobile numbers. Since its launch in May 2025, financial institutions have reported that
based on transaction decline and alert/notifications given to the citizens, potential frauds
amounting to more than ₹1400 crores have been prevented utilizing FRI.
(d) DoT has established Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), a secure online platform, for bi-
directional information sharing with stakeholders for prevention of misuse of telecom resources in
cyber-crimes and financial frauds. More than 1200 organizations have been on-boarded on DIP
including central security agencies, 36 State/UT Police, Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre
(I4C), Banks, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) service providers, Payment System Operators
(PSOs), and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs).
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