Spam call menace: 900k complaints logged last year regarding unsolicited commercial communications

Consumer grievances regarding unsolicited commercial communications (UCC) continue to grow as telecom operators received 904,359 complaints in calendar year 2022 compared to 855,771 in 2021 and 307,043 in 2020 (April-December period), according to data shared by minister of state for communications Devusinh Chauhan in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Last year, telcos disconnected 32,032 numbers that were found in repeated violation of regulations regarding telemarketing, while more than 300,000 connections were tagged with usage caps of 20 outgoing calls and messages a day and 409,739 connections were issued warnings for violating regulations, he added.

"To avoid the inconvenience caused by UCC/Spams through voice calls or SMS, a telecom subscriber can opt to block all commercial communications or can selectively block commercial communications as per preference categories," Chauhan said, addressing questions on measures taken by the government to curb the menace of spam calls and messages.

In addition to specifying a separate number series (140-) for telemarketers, measures have been provided in the Telecom Commercial Communication Customers Preference Regulation, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018) to curb spam calls and messages, he added.

As per the regulations, telecom operators are required to act against senders of commercial communication not registered for the purpose of telemarketing or unregistered telemarketers (UTMs).

These include imposing usage caps, issuing warnings, and in case of repeated offenses, disconnecting services to the offending telephone number.

Usage cap refers to limiting the number of outgoing calls and messages per day from a number. Usage caps are imposed while telcos investigate a complaint against a number.