The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has successfully implemented a framework to ensure the traceability of all commercial SMS, a major step towards creating a safer and spam-free messaging ecosystem. This initiative marks a significant milestone in TRAI’s ongoing efforts to safeguard consumers from spam while enhancing the transparency and accountability of commercial messaging systems.
Under this framework, all Principal Entities (PEs) such as businesses, banks, and government agencies along with their Telemarketers (TMs), were required to declare and register their message transmission paths through blockchain-based Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). This chain declaration & binding process ensures end-to-end traceability of every message, from its origin to its delivery, without compromising data security or delays in SMS delivery.
To operationalise this, TRAI issued a directive on 20 August 2024 mandating the traceability of all commercial messages starting 1 November 2024. Recognising the scale of the activities involved in implementation, TRAI extended the compliance deadlines first to 30 November 2024 and later to 10 December 2024 to enable the smooth onboarding of approximately.
