TRAI Takes Tougher Stance: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has become stricter with telecom companies regarding spam. TRAI has advised the Department of Telecommunications to cash in on the bank guarantees of telecom companies to recover fines related to spam violations.
Unexpected Strictness: According to an ET report, TRAI has suggested that fines imposed for failing to curb spam should be recovered from the companies’ bank guarantees. Officials say this level of strictness from TRAI was not anticipated. No one expected TRAI to take such a hard line on spam issues.
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Largest Outstanding Amounts: There is a total recovery amount of about ₹115 crore from telecom companies for spam-related fines. The highest amounts are owed by government telecom companies BSNL and MTNL, which have accumulated defaults totaling around ₹50 crore over 8-10 years. Following them, Bharti Airtel owes ₹20 crore, Vodafone Idea owes ₹15 crore, and Reliance Jio owes ₹12 crore. The outstanding periods for private companies range from 10 months to 3 years.
Repeated Reminders: TRAI has sent multiple reminders to all companies, urging them to pay the fines. Due to repeated non-payment, TRAI has decided to take this step. Although TRAI has the authority to cancel licenses for continuous rule violations, such severe actions have not been taken before.
Extended Deadlines: Recently, TRAI has increased its efforts to combat spam. Initially, a deadline was set for August, but TRAI had to extend it. A new blockchain-based system has been introduced to prevent spam SMS. The deadline for this system has been moved to October 1.
