New Delhi — Millions of Indian mobile subscribers continue to grapple daily with a relentless flood of unwanted calls and text messages. Complaints are filed, numbers are blocked, yet the nuisance shows no signs of abating. At the heart of the gridlock lies a tug-of-war between telecom operators and telemarketing companies—one that regulators say is fueled by collusion and profit-sharing.
The government insists the only way forward is tighter control. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is now preparing to introduce a mandatory licensing regime for telemarketing firms. Under the plan, any company or individual seeking to send promotional calls or messages will need explicit authorization.
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But India’s regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), argues the problem runs deeper. Its chairman, Anil Kumar Lahoti, puts it bluntly: “Without the cooperation of telecom operators, stopping spam is impossible.” TRAI has long accused operators of profiting from the very ecosystem they are tasked to police, often ignoring customer complaints in the process.
New Rules, New Clashes
In October 2024, the government sought TRAI’s recommendations on conditions and fees for licensing telemarketers. The proposal covers call centers, third-party agents, and even individuals pushing promotional messages. Telecom operators, however, have pushed back, arguing that penalties should not fall solely on carriers. “The brands that sponsor these campaigns must also share responsibility,” one industry executive said.
The Numbers Tell Their Own Story
India hosts nearly 18,000 active telemarketing firms. Over the past year, more than 1,150 were blacklisted and 1.9 million complaints were closed. Between January and May 2025 alone, eight lakh fresh complaints were filed. Yet, analysts say the problem is not only corporate—it is also consumer apathy.
Out of India’s 1.1 billion mobile users, just 240 million have activated the “Do Not Disturb” (DND) feature. That leaves nearly 78 percent of subscribers exposed to unsolicited calls and messages.
Expert View
Policy specialists and cybercrime experts agree the spam epidemic is not merely a technological nuisance but a collision of regulatory and economic interests.
Former IPS officer and cyber security expert Triveni Singh believes mandatory licensing is a step in the right direction, but warns the real challenge is enforcement. “In India, making rules is easy; implementing them is difficult. Unless telecom companies are held strictly accountable, spam calls will never end,” he said.
Singh added that the public’s inaction fuels the problem: “We have services like Do Not Disturb, yet more than 70 percent of users don’t bother to activate them. It’s like leaving your door unlocked and then complaining about theft.”
He argues that the solution lies not in penalties alone but in technological innovation. Artificial intelligence and machine learning-based filtering systems, Singh suggests, should be deployed to automatically block suspicious calls and messages before they reach the user.
