Indian telecom regulator orders crackdown on spam calls

India’s telecom regulator has directed service providers to block all promotional calls — whether pre-recorded or computer-generated — from unregistered senders in a major move "to curb the increasing number of spam calls."

In the event of a violation, the service providers will be blacklisted and their networks will be disconnected for up to two years, India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) said in a statement on Tuesday.

To ensure that spammers do not switch to another network, all telecom service providers must be notified within 24 hours about the violation and must cut off the phone lines used by the offender.

All telecom service providers are also required to submit regular updates on the actions taken against spam calls.

“This decisive action is expected to significantly reduce spam calls and provide relief to consumers,” TRAI said.

The decision comes amid growing user complaints about spam or phishing calls that could lead to fraud or other malicious activities.

Earlier in February, local media reported that more than 60% of Indians received three or more spam calls on average every day during the last 12 months. Local users on Reddit have complained about receiving more than 6-7 spam calls a day.

“For about 6 months, I have been getting donation calls every day from single or multiple organizations,” one college student wrote. “The fact is, I have never donated a single penny to any organization. So, how did they get my number?”

Scam calls are a worldwide problem, including in the U.S. For example, UPS and FedEx courier services have previously warned their customers about fraudulent telephone calls and text messages disguised as official communications from the companies, but which in reality come from scammers.