Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued a directive to telecom operators to use blockchain technology to curb pesky telemarketing calls and SMSs, which are made despite the "Do Not Disturb" choice of customers.
A draft regulation to this effect was notified on May 29 and was open for comments up to June 11 before releasing the final regulation "The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018."
The use of blockchain technology will ensure that telemarketing calls and messages are sent out only by authorized entities and are directed at those who have subscribed to them. It will also safeguard the privacy of consumers and also help in tracking offending telemarketers.
According to the new regulations, Trai has increased sharply the penalty cap on telecom operators by ten-fold to 50 lakh Indian Rupees or $5 million from the current 5 lakh rupees of $500 thousand for violations of the rules.
TRAI had established a "Do Not Disturb" (DND) registry under regulations made in 2010 to curb the menace of telemarketing calls and fraud calls which is a major nuisance to telecom subscribers.
However, the issue was not fully resolved despite 230 million subscribers registered for it since then, and around 1.4 million violators telephone numbers were disconnected.
The Indian telecom regulator will probably be the first organization to adopt blockchain's Distributed Ledger Technology at such a scale in the telecom sector.
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