The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has introduced stricter rules to curb spam calls and unwanted commercial messages related to loans, credit cards, insurance and promotional offers.
TRAI issued the third amendment to the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2026, on September 18. Under the new framework, telecom companies will use technology-based systems to identify and take action against spam callers and unregistered telemarketers.According to the rules, action can be initiated when five or more complaints are received from different customers within 10 days against a spammer or unregistered telemarketer.
In the first violation, outgoing services on all telecom resources linked to the concerned person or organisation may be suspended for 15 days.If the same person or organisation violates the rules again, all its telecom resources may be disconnected for one year and the entity may be blacklisted across telecom operators during that period.
This means changing a single mobile number may not help avoid action.1601 series for service and transactional callsTRAI is also introducing the 1601 number series in phases for service and transactional calls. The rollout began in August 2026 for organisations in sectors such as utilities, courier and logistics.
The system is intended to help distinguish genuine service calls from spam.How to complain about spam callsMobile users can report unwanted commercial calls and messages through 1909, the TRAI DND app or their telecom operator’s complaint facility. Users can also register their preferences through 1909 to block promotional communications.
TRAI’s new framework aims to make action against unwanted commercial communication faster and more effective through customer complaints and technology-based detection.