The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has directed all the telcos to block the SMSes which don’t comply with the new regulations starting April 1, 2021. For the unaware, the telecom regulator had earlier implemented the message scrubbing and blocking system on March 8, which resulted in a majority of SMSes containing important information such as OTPs and more getting blocked. To ensure that the end customers were not harmed, the regulator put a stay on the SMS regulations order and asked the institutions and businesses to register their SMS templates as soon as possible.
Trai Orders Telcos to Start Blocking SMS from April 1 That Don’t Meet Regulatory Norms
According to an ET Telecom report, the regulator said that even after giving ample time to the businesses and institutions to register new SMS templates and comply with the regulations, most of them have been too lazy to do that. In view of this, Trai has asked telcos to scrub and block any SMS from April 1 that doesn’t meet the regulatory norms. This is to ensure that the customers are not cheated and deprived of their regulatory rights. The telemarketers feel that this would be unfair and have warned that it will lead to a disruption in SMS services. Many institutions have argued that billions of SMSes are delivered daily and to comply with a template for each of them is very hard. The telemarketers have sought more time earlier, and they will need more time than this. Shivtel Communications has also taken up the order declared by the Trai to the Delhi High Court for putting a stop to it. Shivtel has argued that close to 1 lakh SMS templates come in every day; thus, it will be hard for them to register it on a one-time compliance basis. The response from Delhi Hight Court is yet to come.
