NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday directed the telecom service providers to seek fresh consent from the people to send commercial messages or voice calls.
The telcos will now have to implement Digital Consent Accqusition (DCA). According to the regulatory body, the existing consents, acquired through alternative means by banks, other financial institutions, insurance companies, trading companies, business entities or real estate companies to send commercial messages to telecom subscribers through SMS or voice calls, will be rendered null and void after the implementation of DCA.
“It is highlighted that after implementing DCA, the existing consents, acquired through alternative means, shall be rendered null and void and fresh consents will have to be sought by all Pes (Principal Entities) through digital means only,” reads the press note from Trai.
To curb the menace of spams through Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC), TRAI issued a direction on June 2, 2023, to all access providers to develop and deploy the DCA facility for creating a unified platform and process to register customers’ consent digitally across access service providers and principal entities. TRAI had asked the principal entities to initiate consent collection as well, from September 1. Now the regulator has reiterated that all the PEs and telcos should onboard the new system.