Digital consent authorisation platform in place of blanket DND: Report

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will soon launch a platform to authorise consent digitally. This digital consent authorisation (DCA) portal will help customers to whitelist numbers on the platform, a report in The Economic Times said.

“The DCA will be ready in two-three months. Currently, we are undertaking testing for it. Once it is rolled out, customers can whitelist their numbers on the platform,” an official told the publication.

The move is a bid to filter out pesky calls and promotions by telemarketers.

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Recently, in a directive, TRAI had asked telcos to implement an AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning) tool which has been found to be effective in detecting and blocking spam that is pushed by unregistered telemarketers through telephone numbers (10 digits numbers).

The regulator had also taken stock of issues around unsolicited commercial communications (UCC), and emphasised the need to curb instances of telemarketers misusing phone numbers to send out promotional messages.

To stop such misuse and curb unwanted messages, the regulator had directed access service providers (telecom operators) to reverify all registered headers and message templates on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform and block all unverified headers and message templates within 30 and 60 days, respectively.

The consent bit is the last stage of the system to reduce unsolicited commercial communication. Under this, explicit consent from customers on the brands they would like to hear from is marked. However, earlier, this consent was provided by default and customers had to register for Do Not Disturb (DND).

Under the new system, the consent registry access is limited to telcos. However, sellers can reach out to customers in case the answer to receiving such calls is yes.

“The real challenge is to design a system that is effective for businesses, while being subscriber-friendly,” technology solutions provider Tanla Platforms told ET. It said the system needs to allow companies to collect consent from interested subscribers, without making it burdensome for them to accept, reject or manage the consent.

(With PTI inputs)