TRAI has issued the "Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2025", which strengthens governance over unsolicited commercial communications, misuse of sender identities, template violations, and unregistered marketing campaigns. The amendment applies to the whole of India and comes into force 30 days after its publication in the Official Gazette, except for certain provisions; provisions related to complaints, enforcement, and operator obligations take effect after 60 days. The new rules further incorporate "customer preferences, enterprise consent, numbering resources, and end-to-end traceability" into a unified regulatory system.
The amendment clarifies that all commercial communications must use a registered Header or dedicated numbering resources allocated for commercial communications. Enterprises that have not completed registration with operators are prohibited from sending commercial SMS or making commercial outbound calls; if they still send such communications without authorization, operators may suspend or disconnect all their communication resources. Before using auto-dialers or robocalls, enterprises must also provide prior written notice to the originating operator and state the purpose of use.
The new rules further distinguish between promotional, service, and transactional communications. SMS or voice calls containing promotional content must provide an opt-out mechanism; if promotional content is mixed into service or transactional messages, it will be treated as promotional communication. Transactional messages generally refer to OTPs, login verifications, transaction confirmations, refund or balance alerts sent within 30 minutes after a user initiates a transaction; service messages are for existing customers and used for order delivery, warranty, security reminders, and other non-marketing notifications.
In terms of enforcement, if the same sender receives valid complaints from 5 or more different users within 10 days, operators may suspend all its outbound call services and launch an investigation. Upon the first confirmed violation, all of an enterprise’s communication resources may be restricted for 15 days; for repeat or subsequent violations, all of the enterprise’s resources such as SIM, PRI, and SIP trunks may be disconnected for one year, the enterprise may be blacklisted and barred from obtaining new communication resources, and related equipment may also be banned across operators for one year.
The amendment also requires enterprises and registered marketers to self-certify their registration information, Headers, content templates, and consent templates annually; failure to complete certification may result in automatic suspension. Operators must share suspension and blacklist status in the DLT and synchronize the blocking of traffic from violating entities within 24 hours. TRAI may also impose financial penalties on operators that fail to properly handle complaints, incorrectly register templates, or falsely report violation data.