Don’t penalise telcos for unwarranted actions of some other subscribers: COAI. Government aims to strengthen consumer protection against unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) or spam calls/messages. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has introduced amendments to the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018 that aim to deal with evolving methods of misuse of telecom resources and promote a more transparent commercial communication ecosystem for consumers, said the Cellular Operators Association of India. The government has warned telecom services providers of fines up to Rs 10 lakh over failure to implement revised regulations dealing with UCC and SMSes, it added. The COAI said that the amendment of TCCCPR, 2018 “has been issued without addressing all relevant issues” and that the authority has substantially increased the penalty to be imposed over the TSPs. It added that the only feasible and optimal approach to handling UCC can be by bringing the Telemarketers under the licensing regime.
