In order to control the menace of Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC), The Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday informed that it has called for a meeting with telecom companies to stop public inconvenience of UCC.

The regulatory body said that UCC impinges on the privacy of individuals and as part of a multi-pronged approach to address this problem through Technical solutions, regulations, directions and close monitoring a meeting with all access providers on the development and implementation of UCC detect solutions by them will be held under the chairmanship of Dr PO Vaghela, Chairman, TRAI at TRAI office, on March 27.

“TRAI issued the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 ("TCCCPR, 2018") on 19th July 2018, which put in place a framework for controlling UCC. The regulations came into force w.e.f. 28.02.2019. With its implementation in a coregulatory manner with support from all Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), an ecosystem based on blockchain (Distributed Ledger Technology-DLT) has been created. Further to the Joint Committee of Regulators (JCOR) meeting held on 23rd Feb 2023 under the chairmanship of Dr PO Vaghela, Chairman TRAI at TRAI office, New Delhi, there has been a consistent focus & drive to implement UCC detect Solutions in order to control UCC & spam on telecom networks,” TRAI said.

The formulation of a framework for sharing of UCC data detected by access providers on the DLT platform, strict action on PEs and RTMs for non-compliance of Regulation, use of AI/ML-based anti-phishing system, implementation of RegTech solution on the DLT platform for promotional Voice calls, implementation of Digital Consent Acquisition & updates of the 'Regulatory Sandbox' established for UCC Detect will be discussed in the meeting, the regulator added.

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According to TRAI, consumers can block all commercial communications (calls and SMSs) or can selectively block UCCs from specified seven categories — Banking/insurance/ financial products/credit cards; Real Estate; Education; Health; Consumer goods and automobiles; Communication/ Broadcasting / Entertainment/IT; and Tourism and leisure — by registering his/her preference in National Customer Preference Register (NCPR) also known as DND Registry.

In case a consumer uses their telephone connection to send promotional messages, his telephone connection will be liable for disconnection on the first complaint and their name and address may be blacklisted for a period of two years.

WHAT IS TCCCPR?

Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preferences Regulations (TCCCPR) 2018 replaced the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010 (2010 Regulations). It was issued by the TRAI to provide a revised regulatory framework aimed at regulating 'unsolicited commercial communication' (UCC) in India.

It provides for a wide range of customer preferences which are to be implemented in near real-time using Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to make communications traceable and capable of being controlled effectively. It also provides for the use of cloud-based solutions for handling complaints, the registration of headers and preferences, and the use of smart contracts for the automated allocation of roles between entities in the commercial communication ecosystem.

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