The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday issued instructions stating that all principal entities (PEs), including banks, financial institutions, and similar organizations, are required to undergo re-verification of message headers and content templates.
According to TRAI’s statement, any commercial communication sent via SMS must undergo scrutiny against the content templates registered by PEs with the access service provider. If the SMS fails to comply with the registered templates, is not allowed to be delivered to consumers.
TRAI has directed access service providers to re-verify all registered headers and message templates on distributed ledger technologies (DLT) platforms. Within 30 and 60 days, unverified headers and templates are to be blocked.
TRAI cautioned that any delay by PEs in initiating the re-verification process for headers and content templates may result in the blocking of their headers, content templates, and messages.
As per the regulatory framework, any commercial communication must be conducted using registered headers assigned to the PEs for this purpose. Headers refer to alphanumeric strings assigned to PEs to facilitate the sending of commercial communications, as outlined in the regulations.
TRAI noted that some PEs have registered a large number of headers and content templates, and occasionally, these are misused by telemarketers.
In February 2023, TRAI reached out to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), National Health Authority (NHA), and all central/state government departments. TRAI requested these institutions to inform and sensitize all the institutions or departments under their purview that send bulk SMS about the necessary actions to be taken to prevent the misuse of headers and message templates.
TRAI observed that many PEs have yet to complete the verification of headers and content templates. Due to this delay, the assigned headers and content templates remain vulnerable to potential misuse, leading to public inconvenience through spam messages and financial frauds.
TRAI emphasized that any further delays by PEs in re-verifying headers and content templates may result in the blocking of their headers, content templates, and messages. The regulatory body will review the progress within the next two weeks and issue appropriate directions if necessary. Therefore, it is imperative for all PEs to promptly complete the verification process for headers and content templates to ensure compliance with TRAI’s guidelines.
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Updated: 26 May 2023, 12:02 PM IST
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