The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has expressed concerns about Truecaller’s practice of labeling calls from the 140 and 1600 number series as “frequently blocked.” TRAI believes such tags could mislead consumers and raise unwarranted suspicions about legitimate commercial and government calls. TRAI officials advise against using these labels, emphasizing the importance of maintaining user trust in calls made within regulatory guidelines.
TRAI recommends that Truecaller inform users about their option to block unwanted promotional calls from the 140 series through the official Do Not Disturb (DND) application. The authority suggests that promoting awareness of the DND framework would be more effective than labeling specific numbers. This approach allows consumers to manage their communication preferences in a structured manner.
The 1600 number series is reserved for service and transactional calls by regulated banking, financial, and insurance entities, as well as government-to-citizen communications. In contrast, the 140 series is designated for promotional calls across various sectors. TRAI emphasizes that numbers in the 1600 series should not be labeled in a way that discourages consumers from answering, as these calls may include critical alerts, transaction verifications, and important government notifications.
The ongoing dispute between TRAI and Truecaller revolves around the display of labels on the 140 and 1600 number series. Truecaller argues that spam calls have surged since TRAI mandated the use of these dedicated series while restricting caller ID apps from showing community-reported spam information for these numbers. Consequently, users are increasingly ignoring or blocking calls from these series, impacting trust in legitimate business communications.
