TRAI Rules To Stop Spam Texts May Have An Unintended Impact

Consumers may face disruptions in receiving service and transactional messages from their financial institutions next month after the telecom regulator's moves to curb spam and phishing attempts.

As per a notification by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Aug. 20, all access providers were again asked to stop transmitting messages containing URLs, OTT links or call-back numbers that are not registered with telcos, to monitor the use of content templates and stop their misuse.

A banker in the know said that discussions were ongoing regarding banks and relevant financial institutions being able to ringfence pertinent messages by using a dedicated series of numbers that would only be available to them.

The notification also asks service providers to update the code of practice accordingly within fifteen days and furnish compliance report of the direction within forty five days from date of issue of the direction.

The move is expected to come into effect from Sept. 1, 2024. The guidelines were first issued in May last year.