The change was due to come into effect on September 1, and Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone-Idea want extension in the deadline, a previous report said.After a one-month extension, the change will go into effect on October 1. The move is aimed at curbing spam and phishing attempts by scammers who try to dupe people using SMS.
“In response to the requests by the Access Providers for additional time, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has granted a one-month extension to Access Providers to comply with its Direction issued on August 20, 2024, regarding the whitelisting of URLs/APKs/OTT links,” TRAI said.
“The revised Direction mandates that all Access Providers ensure that traffic containing URLs/APKs/OTT links, which are not whitelisted, is not permitted with effect from October 1, 2024,” it added.
What is changing
As per the current rules, entities register their headers and templates with telcos but not the content of messages, which means that operators do not have any information on the content of transmitted messages.
However, starting next month, telcos must create a mechanism to read the content of commercial messages and block those that do not match their records.
“This step aims to curb the misuse of Headers and Content Templates, ensuring a more secure and efficient telecom ecosystem. Further, in consideration of the issues brought out by Access Providers, the revised timeline for implementing call back numbers will be fixed separately,” it said.
“The TRAI has directed all Access Providers to furnish to the Authority an updated status on action taken within fifteen days and a compliance report within thirty days from date of issue of this Direction,” TRAI added.
In India, 1.5-1.7 billion commercial messages are sent daily, totaling about 55 billion every month, according to industry data.
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