TRAI New Spam Call Rules: 3-Complaint AI Rule

The telecom regulator reduces the spam complaint threshold to three backed by AI detection, regulates automated calls, imposes new duties on apps and senders, and offers consumers a formal appeal process to curb spam calls.

The telecom regulator is clamping down on spammers by reducing the complaint threshold for spam calls when a number is flagged by AI. This is alongside regulating automated calls, restricting call-blocking apps, and giving consumers a formal appeal. Ojasvi Gupta explains how the new rules will work.

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l What is the new three-complaint spam rule?

Until now, action against a sender of spam calls or text messages needed five or more unique complaints within 10 days. The amendment to the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018, (TCCCPR), adds a faster route, under which action will be triggered when three or more unique complaints arrive within 10 days and the sender’s calling number is also flagged by the telecom operator’s AI/ML system as likely to be sending unsolicited commercial communication. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) describes this as corroborating consumer complaint data with the operators’ own detection data. The aim is early identification of spammers and faster enforcement, since a handful of complaints backed by an AI flag is treated as strong enough evidence. Earlier, an AI flag mainly used to warn the customer who received the call. Now it counts as evidence. Combined with consumer complaints, it lets regulators move against a number their own systems already distrust, instead of waiting for enough people to complain first.

l How will AI detection be used against spammers?

Major operators already use AI/ML systems to detect suspected spam and alert customers. Trai’s February 27, 2026, direction asked them to share such intelligence between operators and investigate suspected senders. If five or more numbers linked to one sender are flagged within 10 days, the access provider must begin further investigation and graded action. That can include KYC re-verification, physical verification, barring outgoing services, and disconnection of telecom resources for repeated violations and misuse. Graded action means responses escalate step by step, with disconnection tied to repeated violations. To protect genuine communication, the regulated commercial series - 140xx, 1600xx and 1601xx - will not be flagged as suspected spam, so commercial and government messages are not missed.

l How automated calls are being regulated now

Application-to-person (A2P) calls are voice calls started by software or an automated platform without a person dialing, including autodialing, robocalls and pre-recorded or artificial voice. Their ability to automate and scale bulk calling creates potential for spam misuse. Under the amendment, every entity using A2P calls will have to declare this in advance to its telecom provider, along with the numbers it will use. A2P calls made without that declaration will be treated as unsolicited commercial communication. As a deterrent, a termination charge of up to Rs 0.05 per minute will be levied by the terminating operator on the originating operator. The charge sits between operators, not on the person receiving the call. A2P calls made from regulated commercial numbering series, and calls authorised by Trai, are exempt from this charge. Legitimate businesses using automated calling will therefore need to register their use and numbers first, or risk their calls being classified as spam.

l New duties for apps, senders & telemarketers

Call management apps such as spam-blocking dialers face two new limits. They cannot blanket-block, filter or spam-tag calls from the designated 140xx, 1600xx and 1601xx series, to avoid mislabeling genuine calls, though individual users can block them on their devices. An app may not let users report unsolicited commercial communication as “spam” or “junk” unless it sends that report to the operators. Senders and telemarketers face stiffer accountability. If headers or content templates are misused, the originating operator must suspend them within six hours of becoming aware. The sender should then take remedial steps and file a complaint with law enforcement. Where a telemarketer is responsible, all its telecom resources will be disconnected for one year, along with blacklisting. Trai may also prescribe essential conditions for operator agreements with senders, and classify senders into categories with differentiated enforcement measures for violations.

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l How will consumers benefit?

Consumer gain a formal appeal. If unhappy with how a spam complaint has been resolved, one can appeal within 15 days to the Appellate Authority. The appeal can be made through the same routes used to complain, which is the Trai DND app, operator’s app or portal, or a call or SMS to 1909. Two other changes matter. Commercial communications based on one’s inquiry to a business are allowed only for seven days from the inquiry, and the sender should keep a written or digital record of it that can be verified. Trai has said the inquiry rule mainly facilitates e-commerce and e-service platforms. The definition of consent now also covers legacy consents companies already hold, but only if obtained through verifiable means and registered on operators’ digital platforms. The idea is for users to keep reporting unwanted calls through official channels, since complaints and app reports now feed enforcement.