Telecom operators have very vocalized their dissent over the prospect of disruption of the delivery of critical transactional and service messages in the wake of the recent directive issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, TRAI.
Telecom operators raise hue and cry over disruptions
The new directive aims to trace the messages originating from PEs, which include banks, e-commerce companies, and financial institutions, from November 1, 2024. According to the telecom companies, this may cause blocks in critical communication also, including one-time passwords (OTPs).
TRAI Sets New Directive for Message Traceability
In August 2024, TRAI directed the telecom operators that messages originating from PEs need to be traced right from the starting point of the chain and through all the chains of telemarketers involved in the transmission of messages. The rule declares that if the message flow is not completely defined or if the sequence fails to meet the expected configuration, messages should be blocked. This set of instruction has been made by the authority to conclude spamming and fraudulent messages and shall include full transparency in the process.
Telecom companies are wary, however, of this new regulation, which will cause the delivery of indispensable messages – particularly those from banks and other financial houses – to be stopped. According to this new regulation, if the sequence or count is incomplete or unrecorded in the chain, the messages will be rejected; with millions of users who depend on real-time updates of transactions and receiving OTPs for secure financial transactions affected by this.
Critical message sending and OTP concerns:
telecom firms have appealed for an exemption saying that the most important messages, such as OTPs, which are most critical for online banking transactions, e-commerce transactions, and many other services may not reach customers. Many telemarketers and PEs still haven’t opted for these technical solutions in order to be in compliance with the new directive. This non-compliance may raise the possibility of blocking a major portion of OTPs and service messages from November 1st, which would cause major hassle to customers at large.
With an estimate of around 1.5 to 1.7 billion commercial messages a day, India is one of the biggest markets for transactional messaging. If it fails to deliver, then this may have the consequences of delayed financial transactions, broken e-commerce services, affecting possibly millions of users spread across the country.
Technical Challenges and Compliance Issues
The telecom operators say that their systems are geared up to abide by the new TRAI regulations, but most of the main entities engaged in the message forwarding process and the telemarketers are not. These main entities as well as tele markers did not execute the technical upgradations ensuring full traceability of their messages even after repeated communications from the telecom companies. The result has been the large compliance gap and this increases the danger of disruption arising once the new rule comes into force.
Different industry parties have pointed out that these changes place several complex technical changes on them, such as updating several software and backend integrations from several platforms. Without such updates, most PEs and telemarketers will not be able to meet the November 1 deadline.
Request for Deadline Extension
In this backdrop, telecom operators approached the TRAI and sought two months more to adapt to the directive. Their contention was that their systems are in place for effecting this directive; however, PEs and telemarketers need some time for proper technical preparation to prevent service disruption.
Many PEs, especially in the banking and finance industries, also express concern over the short time provided for compliance. They call for an extension so that their systems will be fully traceable with the new traceability rules so that critical messages are not at risk of non-delivery. Failure to deliver this extension, they warn, may lead to a breakdown of essential communication services, affecting both business and consumer alike.
Potentially major impact
The new directive from the TRAI will be widespread, and banks, financial, e-commerce, and other sectors relying heavily on SMS-based communications may be drastically hit if critical messages do not reach customers. OTSPs are basically the backbone of safe online transactions, and difficulties in receiving them may dent trust in digital services.
Others could be the ones using e-commerce platforms where there is a dependance on the transactional message to get the customer updated on orders, deliveries, and payments. If such messages are delayed or lost, customers will end up being unhappy and resultant financial loss for the business.
As the deadline of November 1 for compliance with new traceability requirements set by TRAI dawns close, telecom operators, PEs, and telemarketers are in a mad rush to adapt to these new requirements. Though the very intention of the regulation is to increase transparency and cut fraudulent messaging, any probable inconvenience in the delivery of vital services would prove immensely inconvenient to millions of users.
Telecom operators are looking at TRAI to factor the challenges for PEs and telemarketers in implementing these technological changes and provide a more extended deadline. If this is not confirmed, there will be wide disruptions in the delivery of such critical messages as OTPs in the upcoming weeks when this will disable financial transactions, e-commerce services among other daily endeavors.
