War on spam: Mandate on message traceability will not delay message delivery, says TRAI

Telecom regulator TRAI on Thursday asserted that its mandate to telcos on message traceability as part of curbing spams would not lead to any delay in delivery of messages nor disrupt timely receipt of one-time passwords. Taking to X, TRAI dismissed as "factually incorrect" reports which suggested that OTP messages could get delayed from December 1.

"This is factually incorrect. TRAI has mandated the Access Providers to ensure message traceability. It will not delay delivery of any message," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) wrote on X.

The clarification came after some media reports suggested that subscribers across telecom networks could face disruptions and delays in OTP-based transactions like banking services, and e-commerce, among others.

TRAI has announced a number of initiatives to crackdown on spam calls and messages. To enhance message traceability, TRAI issued direction on August 20, 2024 mandating that the trail of all messages from senders/principal entities to recipients must be traceable from November 1, 2024.

According to TRAI, all access providers have since implemented the technical solutions. However, to provide a transition time for technical upgrades, and chain declaration by Principal Entities (PEs) and Telemarketers (TMs), TRAI, through its direction on October 28, 2024, extended the time up to November 30, 2024.