New Delhi, Nov 13: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) intensified its crackdown on unsolicited commercial communications (UCC) during the July-September quarter of the 2026-27 financial year, taking enforcement action against more than 1.24 lakh telecom resources and blacklisting 374 senders for repeated violations.
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According to TRAI’s latest quarterly report, released on Friday, 1,10,325 telecom resources were barred from outgoing services for 15 days for first-time violations, while 13,777 resources were disconnected for one year due to repeated violations. The regulator also blocked 3,725 SMS headers and blacklisted 374 principal entities or telemarketers for one year.
The report, compiled using information submitted by telecom service providers (TSPs), covers the period from July 1 to September 30, 2026.
During the quarter, the country recorded 1.349 billion telecom subscribers and 714.01 billion outgoing calls. Telecom networks also originated 702.28 billion SMS messages. Against this massive communication volume, service providers received 1.529 million complaints related to unsolicited commercial communications, of which 723,000 were classified as actionable.
TRAI noted that the complaint volume amounted to approximately 2.14 complaints per million outgoing calls.
TRAI DND App Accounts for Nearly 93% of Spam Complaints
Consumer participation through the TRAI Do Not Disturb (DND) App continued to play a major role in identifying and reporting unwanted commercial communications.
Of the 1.529 million UCC complaints received during the quarter, approximately 1.421 million, or 92.9 per cent, were submitted through the app. The platform had recorded 4.236 million downloads by September 30, 2026.
To encourage consumers to report spam, TRAI undertook awareness campaigns across television, radio, newspapers and digital platforms. These included campaigns through 132 FM channels, 15 All India Radio FM channels, 23 private television channels, two Doordarshan channels and 97 newspapers.
The regulator also organised the ‘TRAI DND Reel Challenge’ on the MyGov portal between June and August 2026. One of its digital awareness campaigns generated more than 24.8 million impressions.
Additionally, 322 physical consumer awareness programmes were organised by TRAI, its registered Consumer Advocacy Groups and telecom service providers, reaching around 31,000 participants. More than three billion SMS messages were also sent to subscribers to promote the DND App.
Only 16.64% Subscribers Have Registered DND Preferences
TRAI’s report highlighted that a large number of mobile users are yet to register their preferences for promotional communications.
As of September 30, 2026, around 224.49 million subscribers had registered their preferences in the DND registry, accounting for 16.64 per cent of the country’s total subscriber base of 1.349 billion.
This means more than 1.12 billion subscribers had not registered any DND preference and remained accessible to commercial communications from registered telemarketers and senders, subject to applicable regulations.
Consumers can register or modify their preferences through the TRAI DND App, their telecom operator’s website or mobile application, or by calling or sending an SMS to 1909. They can choose to block promotional communications from all sectors or select specific categories.
Dedicated Numbering Series Help Block Unwanted Calls and Messages
TRAI’s designated numbering systems continued to play an important role in identifying and regulating commercial communications.
The 140 series is meant for promotional calls, while the 1600 series is designated for service and transactional calls by entities in the banking, financial services and insurance sectors, as well as government-to-citizen communications.
On August 10, 2026, TRAI introduced the 1601 series for service and transactional calls from utility providers and entities in the logistics and delivery sectors.
During the July-September quarter, 15.27 billion promotional calls originated through the 140 series. Of these, 1.70 billion calls were blocked after verification against registered DND preferences.
Registered senders and telemarketers also originated 660.71 billion commercial SMS messages, while 11.09 billion promotional messages were blocked based on subscribers’ registered preferences.
Meanwhile, 1.27 billion calls originated through the 1600 series during the quarter.
AI Systems Flag Nearly 20 Billion Suspected Spam Calls and SMS
Telecom service providers have also deployed artificial intelligence-based systems to identify suspected spam calls and messages originating from ordinary 10-digit mobile numbers that may bypass designated commercial communication channels.
Using calling-pattern analysis, these systems flagged 18.28 billion incoming calls and 1.62 billion incoming SMS messages as suspected spam during the quarter. Together, the systems identified approximately 19.9 billion potentially unwanted communications.
The report recorded 705.96 billion incoming calls and 854.4 billion incoming SMS messages during the period.
To prevent suspected senders from continuing such activities, telecom operators issued 4.59 million warning notifications to entities identified as having a high probability of sending spam.
Operators also conducted electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) verification of 34,030 suspected UCC senders. A total of 9,970 telecom connections were disconnected after the concerned senders failed KYC verification.
TRAI said the AI-based systems alert consumers about suspected spam, allowing them to decide whether to answer such calls or messages with caution. The warning mechanism also aims to discourage entities from misusing ordinary mobile numbers for unsolicited commercial communication.
Multi-Layered Enforcement to Curb Repeat Violations
The quarterly report underlined that enforcement is being carried out at multiple levels, including temporary barring of telecom resources, long-term disconnection, sender blacklisting across operators and blocking of SMS headers.
TRAI has published the performance of individual telecom service providers in controlling unsolicited commercial communications as originating and terminating access providers in separate annexures to the report. Their performance in deploying AI-based preventive measures has also been included.
The regulator said consumer reporting remains essential to identifying spammers and initiating action against them. It has encouraged mobile subscribers to use the DND App or other available channels to report unwanted commercial calls and messages.
The full quarterly report is available on TRAI’s official website, along with operator-wise performance details.
