India’s telecom regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), has introduced new regulations to tackle the problem of unwanted spam calls and messages in over a billion phone handsets across the country, with implementation starting on May 1, 2023.
The new regulations require all telecom operators across India to deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI) spam filters in their call and message services. In addition, the TRAI has instructed telecom companies to stop the transmission of promotional calls to mobile numbers with ten digits.
They have also asked the operators to integrate a Call ID function to show the caller’s identity and image on the mobile phone display, allowing customers to decipher the caller.
The AI filters are intended to curb the incessant flow of spam calls and messages that millions of handset owners in India receive, as there was a lack of regulatory rules to control it. With these filters in place, handsets will detect and prevent fraudulent communications from a number of sources. The telecom operators were initially hesitant to implement AI filters due to privacy concerns, which kept the regulatory mechanism on the sidelines.
India’s top two telecom operators, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, have announced the implementation of AI filters into their services. However, communication from Vodafone Idea (VI) and MTNL on the implementation of the new regulations is yet to come.
Post Your Comments