The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday directed telecom companies to deploy an Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning based Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) Detect system to detect, identify, and act against Unregistered Telemarketers (UTMs).
According to a press release, the system is capable of evolving to deal with new signatures, new patterns and new techniques used by UTMs. TRAI has said that UTMs through
messages having fraudulent links and telephone numbers trap the customers into sharing their critical information causing financial loss to the customers.
As per TRAI, UTMs are entities that do not get registered with the Access Providers and use 10-digit mobile numbers for sending commercial communications through messages or calls.
“TRAI has been taking various steps to curb Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) which is a major source of inconvenience to the public. It has resulted in a reduction in complaints against Registered Telemarketers (RTMs),” the regulatory body said in its release.
While issuing directions to telecom companies, TRAI asked the companies to ensure that such UCC Detect System shall detect senders who are sending Unsolicited Commercial Communications in bulk and not complying with the provisions of the regulations.
Companies have also been directed to share information with concerned Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), and ensure that action is taken by the Originating Access Provider (OAP) as per provisions of the regulations.
All the Access Providers are directed to comply with the said directions and forward an updated status on actions taken within 30 days.
TRAI said that telecom companies have to ensure that UCC Detect System shall be capable of reputation-based analysis of the message sender, which may help avoid false positives, take into account various factors like age of subscription, authentication at the time of subscription, address verification method, and SMS sending/calling pattern.
