MHA asks Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea, BSNL to trial anti-spam solution, review in February
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has asked the incumbent telecom service providers (TSPs) to implement indiginously-developed spam blocking solution on a three-month trial basis, but as per revised minutes of the meeting issued on Wednesday, added that telcos could use any tool of their choice, and sought feedback in a review meeting to be held in February.
In a meeting with telecom executives, an official of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre or I4C, under the home ministry on January 20 said, “TCIL agreed to provide the tool for a three-month trial at no cost to all TSPs and principal entities (PE), allowing to use the tool and assess the system’s efficiency and accuracy.”
Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) is a state-owned master system integrator and engineering company that has co-developed SMS transparency solution in collaboration with an indigenous technology partner, to enable telecom carriers in effectively blocking fraudulent messages.
The coordination centre also asked the public sector company to share a proof of concept (PoC) roadmap with telecom operators as well as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
It has also asked telecom service providers – Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, as well as state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) to share feedback in a review meeting slated for early February, as per the minutes of meeting. ET has reviewed the minutes.
Meanwhile, Rajesh Kumar-headed I4C on Wednesday revised the minutes of the meeting, saying that “telcos can develop their own tool to prevent the misuse of SMS headers.”
It clarified, “All TSPs may develop their own tool to stop the misuse of SMS headers or use any such tool of their choice. All TSPs may give their feedback for the same in the next review meeting. I4C does not recommend any tool in particular.”
The development comes in the backdrop of rising mobile-led spam messages and cyber frauds with scamsters misusing SMS headers.
Queries to Jio, Airtel, Vi, BSNL and MTNL did not elicit any response till press time.
On January 20, 2025, TCIL demonstrated the SMS header module designed for telcos to enable realtime interventions against its misuse in cyber-enabled frauds on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP).
The commercially tested solution, according to the state-run engineering firm, could be deployed immediately, and telecom carriers could benefit by enabling their full control over SMS tracking.
Over the last few years, the telecom watchdog has been trying hard to rein in unverified intermediaries to effectively check unsolicited commercial communication (UCC).
The domestically designed and developed solution uses blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) technology, and distributes only verified message content by blocking fraudulent urls, and effectively prevents unsolicited commercial communication, a TCIL official said.
Earlier, TCIL conducted a proof-of-concept (PoC) on MTNL network, showcasing the prevention of spam voice and data services in a live telecom environment.
In a bid to crack down on spam messages and calls, telecom companies have been blocking and blacklisting third-party entities for the last few months.