Lok Sabha Question No. 972 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-26
Subject: Spam Calls
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 972 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26 TH  JULY, 2023

## SPAM CALLS

## †972. SHRIMATI RANJANBEN DHANANJAY BHATT:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government proposes to ban spam cells, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has taken any step so far; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)

(a) to (c) To curb Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) including spams, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) notified, Telecom Commercial Communication Customers Preference Regulation, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018).

TRAI has specified, a separate number series viz. '140'xxx xxxxx for Telemarketers who are registered with Access Service Providers for making commercial calls.

To avoid the inconvenience caused by UCC/Spams through voice calls or SMS, a telecom subscriber can opt to block all commercial communications or can selectively block commercial communications as per preference categories. As per the regulations, every Access Provider shall ensure that no commercial communication is made to any recipient, except as per the preferences or digitally registered consents registered in accordance with these regulations.

In case a subscriber receives UCC, then he/ she can lodge a complaint by sending SMS or making a voice call at 1909 or through TRAI/ Access Provider's App.

A sender of commercial communication not registered for the purpose of telemarketing with the  Access  Provider  is  referred  to  as  Unregistered  Telemarketers  (UTMs).  Access  Providers  are required to act against UTMs by giving a warning, putting them under Usage Cap or disconnecting services for repeat violations. Usage Cap means a limit put on a telephone number for making a maximum of twenty outgoing voice calls per day and a maximum of twenty outgoing messages per day. Following provisions are made in the Regulations for action against UTMs:

- (i)  On  the  first  instance  of  violation  -  Warning  shall  be  issued  and  during  investigation temporary usage cap will be imposed.
- (ii) On second instance of violation - Usage Cap for a period of six months.

- (iii) On third and subsequent instances of violations - All Telecom resources of the sender shall be disconnected for a period up to two years and Originating Access Provider (OAP) shall put the sender under blacklist category, during which period no new telecom resource shall be provided by any other service provider.

As per the Performance Monitoring Reports (PMRs) submitted by Access Providers, the counts of UCC complaints received against Unregistered Telemarketers (UTM) from Apr 2020 to Dec 2022 and action taken by Access Providers is given below at Table-I and Table-II :

Table-I: UCC complaints received by Access Providers

| Period               | Complaints against Unregistered Telemarketers (UTMs)   |
|----------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| Apr-2020 to Dec-2020 | 3,07,043                                               |
| Jan-2021 to Dec-2021 | 8,55,771                                               |
| Jan-2022 to Dec-2022 | 9,04,359                                               |

## Table-II: Actions taken by Access Providers against UTMs

| Period               |   Imposed Usage Cap during investigation of complaints |   Issued warning notices for first instance of violation |   Imposed usage caps for second instance of violation |   Disconnected connections for violating regulations for third time |
|----------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Apr-2020 to Dec-2020 |                                                 123840 |                                                    51057 |                                                 15112 |                                                                4779 |
| Jan-2021 to Dec-2021 |                                                 221690 |                                                   346429 |                                                 54865 |                                                               15382 |
| Jan-2022 to Dec-2022 |                                                 258041 |                                                   409739 |                                                 77213 |                                                               32032 |

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