Consumer Protection Act to be used to check unwanted calls; Trai to study scope of “telecom services” to decide jurisdiction of OTTs
According to officials, since the telecom regulator does not have the power to regulate OTTs, it has recommended that the consumer affairs ministry step in as it has the powers under the Consumer Protection Act.
After the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and telecom service providers, it is the Ministry of Consumer Affairs which has entered the fray for curbing the menace of spam calls. Since internet-based services and over-the-top (OTT) applications such as WhatsApp run on the digital network being provided by telcos, they are outside the purview of Trai which is strictly for regulating telecom companies.
With the growing popularity of WhatsApp, internet-based voice services becoming accessible to more and more people because of cheap data and broadband penetration, the problem of pesky calls has entered this domain too.
Cyber criminals are now increasingly resorting to using OTTs such as WhatsApp to dupe people through fake calls because it is easier to hide behind layers of internet, calls are not traceable and there are way more creative ways to deceive gullible people through internet-based applications than through a simple phone.
It is now to Ministry of Consumer Affairs which has stepped in to protect the interests of consumers, according to a report in The Financial Express. According to officials, since the telecom regulator does not have the power to regulate OTTs, it has recommended that the consumer affairs ministry step in as it has the powers under the Consumer Protection Act. “This is the best way to come up with a regulatory mechanism to check spam calls and messages on WhatsApp,” officials added.
On the broader OTT regulations, officials said that the Trai is looking at coming up with a consultation paper to examine whether the definition of telecom services cover OTTs also. The exercise may not yield much as the Telecom Act has not defined OTTs as telecom services.
However, the Consumer Affairs Ministry is fully empowered to regulate OTTs under the Consumer Protection Act, as such calls on WhatsApp can be seen as unfair trade practices, which mislead consumers.
Officials said that the ministry is likely to work on an algorithm which would run a check on phone numbers and messages to see if these are being used for marketing purposes.
For instance, the algorithm will check how many calls or messages the identified numbers have made within, say 2-3 hours. If the same runs into high double digits, they would be identified as ‘pesky’, be blocked, and penalty will be levied on the owners of these numbers.
However, such offences will not be liable for criminal prosecution, as the Consumer Protection Act does not provide for any criminal liability for such offences.
Telecom operators have been urging the government to regulate OTT apps as well as the services provided by them are similar in nature to theirs.
“There needs to be a mechanism to ensure these (OTT) platforms come under some form of regulatory oversight to safeguard users,” Gopal Vittal, managing director of Bharti Airtel said on Wednesday at the launch of Airtel’s AI-powered spam solution.
Bharti’s tool will see an immediate reduction in spam messages by 99.5 per cent and in calls by 97 per cent for its subscribers. The company has identified 2 million spammers on its network.
The only limitation is that the tool will not be able to identify spam calls and messages from OTT channels like WhatsApp.
On its part, to check spam calls, Trai has made it mandatory for telemarketers to switch to the ‘140’ series of phone numbers for making promotional calls. Similarly, for service and transactional calls, ‘160’ series has been mandated.
The regulator has also directed telcos to block SMS headers containing URLs, APKs, and OTT links that are not whitelisted starting October 1.
So far, over 3,000 registered senders have complied with this requirement by whitelisting more than 70,000 links. Senders who fail to whitelist their links by the due date will not be able to transmit any messages containing URL/APK/ OTT links.
However, as rules get tightened for telecom networks, telemarketers shift to WhatsApp. Officials said that’s why the consumer affairs ministry needs to step with its own set of regulations.
What’s A Spam
A spam call is an unwanted call made to a large number of people, for the purposes of advertising, phishing, spreading malware, and fraud. Telecom service providers attempt to flag and block incoming spam calls; however, spammers often use tactics to try to bypass detection. Callers may block spam calls that they receive.
Losses due to spam calls
In September, a Bengaluru man lost Rs 59 lakh due to fake Skype and WhatsApp video call scam.
Fake calls on WhatsApp from numbers starting with +92 have become common. The callers dupe people by offering freebies for a small delivery fee. In October, a man in Ahmedabad lost Rs 7 lakh in such a scam.
WhatsApp video calls are also used to trap people in sex scams and then they are extorted for large amounts of money.
