New SMS Regulations: SBI, HDFC, ICICI in List of Defaulters

On 26th, TRAI released a list of defaulters as per the new SMS regulations enforced from 8th March. Notably, SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Samsung and Delhivery are on a list of 40 entities.

Moreover, TRAI also named SMS aggregators Karix, Kaleyra and 35 others on a separate list for defaulting.

TRAI's Statements on New SMS Regulations

TRAI said these entities have received enough time to register and test their SMS content. Despite that, some 80 entities in total have failed to comply with the new SMS regulations.

The regulator said that it has received informations from telcos “that principal entities including major banks like State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank, etc., are not transmitting mandatory parameter like content template ID, PE IDs (SMS sender ID), etc., even in those cases where content templates have been registered while sending such messages to the TSP (telecom service provider) for delivery”.

This information came to TRAI via telcos, who were tasked with keeping a record of all the defaulters after the former had to put the new SMS regulations on hold just a day after its implementation.

Criticizing the entities in question, TRAI said that this showed “lack of due care and diligence".

In a letter sent to telcos a day before the press release, TRAI ordered telecom companies to resume filtering. Furthermore, TRAI ordered telcos to block non-compliant traffic from April 1. It said that “consumers cannot be deprived of the benefits of regulatory provision any further”, it said.

To enforce the regulations, it has requested other regulatory bodies such as the RBI, SEBI and IRDA. Furthermore, TRAI requested central and state government departments to ensure full compliance within their jurisdiction.

TCCCPR, 2018 and the Effect on Industry

The Telecom Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018, was introduced to tackle unwanted SMSes. In the legislation, all commercial bulk SMS senders have to register their unique SMS templates. This includes headers ID, content and user consent. The said "template" is registered on a blockchain-based platform developed by telcos. The traffic which is not compatible will fail to reach the destination. Notably, TCCCPR, 2018 aims at blocking fraudulent messages which can cause significant harm to an unsuspecting user.

However, the system and the filters are rigid. That means even the genuine promotional, transactional and service SMSes are not going through.

The filters were first activated on March 8, causing huge problems across the country. SMSes and OTPs did not arrive for a large population. On that day, approximately 400 million SMSes failed to bypass the systems that day.

Telemarketers are bracing up for another round of SMS failures on April 1. Notably, more than 1 lakh new templates flow into the system every day. That makes it nearly impossible for 1 billion SMSes to pass the filters per day.

Incidentally, TRAI is also facing four lawsuits in the Delhi High Court. These lawsuits are from companies such as IndiaMart and question the legitimacy of these rules.

What Next?

April 1 can prove to be a fateful day. As the filters will be back on, expect to see a disruption happening again. Not of the level of 8th March, but certainly large enough to cause problems on a large scale nevertheless.