NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday issued a warning to telecom service providers, urging them to step up their efforts against spammers.
The telecom sector regulator noted that following its directive, telcos have blacklisted over 680 entities involved in spamming activities, and 1.8 million numbers associated with such practices have been disconnected.
“TRAI has issued strict instructions to service providers to act swiftly against spammers. As a result, service providers black-listed more than 680 entities and disconnected 18 lakh numbers during the last one and half month,” said TRAI on a social media post X.
Last week, to address the misuse of URLs in messages, the telecom regulator issued a directive, instructing all telecom carriers to block any traffic containing URLs, APKs (Android Package Kits), or OTT (Over-The-Top) links that have not been whitelisted. This directive is set to be implemented by October 1, 2024.
Before the regulatory body enforced the new rule, previously, links in SMS messages could lead to unknown sources, posing threats of financial loss or privacy breaches. Under the new rules, any link received via SMS will be from a verified source, enhancing user security.