COAI Raises Alarm on Ineffective Spam Regulations Amid Soaring Financial Crimes

The Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) has voiced concerns over the new regulations against spam calls, criticizing increased penalties on telecom operators while ignoring OTT service's role in the influx of spam. They advocate a comprehensive approach that includes regulating telemarketers and OTT platforms to address unsolicited communication effectively.

The Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) expressed significant concerns about the sector regulator's newly introduced norms to combat spam calls and messages, which now include heftier penalties for telecom companies. COAI emphasized the absence of regulations for OTT Communication Services, which have seen an increase in spam, affecting financial crime rates drastically.

COAI argued that telecom operators have taken sufficient measures to curtail spam, but a considerable amount of unsolicited and legitimate commercial communication has shifted to OTT communication platforms, leading to a surge in financial crimes, according to Director General S P Kochhar. The association further criticized the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for significantly raising penalties on telecom service providers.

The industry body has highlighted that a more inclusive regulatory framework is needed, involving telemarketers and OTT providers, to ensure accountability across all messaging stakeholders. COAI insisted that including telemarketers under the licensing regime would address the root cause of unwanted communications and urged TRAI to consider their suggestions.