Regulators
TRAI seeks IT Act powers to act against call tagging apps
Regulator wants authority to address spam labels on 140 and 1600 series calls
NEW DELHI: The next battle over spam calls may not be about who is calling but who gets to decide what counts as spam. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has sought powers under the Information Technology (IT) Act to take action against call management applications and digital platforms that allegedly tag or block legitimate calls originating from designated 140 and 1600 series numbers as spam, according to an Economic Times report.
The move targets platforms such as Truecaller, Hiya and Whoscall, which currently fall outside TRAI’s enforcement jurisdiction as they are classified as intermediaries under the IT Act rather than entities regulated under the telecom licensing framework overseen by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
According to the report, TRAI is not seeking to directly regulate call management applications. Instead, it wants the authority to intervene when such platforms are found to have violated rules or frameworks governing telecom-related communications.
To bridge the existing regulatory gap, the telecom regulator has requested that it be designated as an “authorised agency” under the IT Act. Such a designation would empower TRAI to issue formal notices to digital platforms and seek compliance where necessary.
Officials said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has accepted the proposal in principle, with the Department of Telecommunications expected to take the process forward.
The request comes amid growing tensions between telecom operators and call identification platforms over the classification of legitimate commercial and service calls. Telecom companies have argued that incorrectly labelling authorised calls as spam weakens India’s regulated numbering framework and can prevent consumers from receiving genuine business and service communications.
The development highlights the evolving regulatory challenges of India’s digital communications ecosystem, where telecom regulations and internet platforms increasingly overlap. As call-filtering apps become more influential in determining which calls consumers answer, regulators are seeking greater oversight to balance consumer protection with the integrity of authorised communication networks.
