logo
MeitY to lead efforts to curb spam calls from OTT platform

MeitY to lead efforts to curb spam calls from OTT platform

Time of India26-04-2025

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) will take the lead to engage with stakeholders to tackle spam and scam calls from over-the-top (OTT) and rich communication services (RCS) platforms, a joint committee of regulators (JCoR) meeting convened by The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) decided on Friday.These platforms, which operate over the internet, have become new avenues for spammers and fraudsters to reach consumers.While the Trai has taken steps to tackle unsolicited communications through traditional means, the regulator has maintained that its regulatory framework does not extend to OTT services.
The Trai has made fresh amendments to the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, implementing simplified spam reporting, standardised message headers, enhanced compliance and stricter action.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Andhra Pradesh unveils Draft Electronics Component Manufacturing Policy 4.0
Andhra Pradesh unveils Draft Electronics Component Manufacturing Policy 4.0

India Gazette

time4 hours ago

  • India Gazette

Andhra Pradesh unveils Draft Electronics Component Manufacturing Policy 4.0

Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) [India], June 7 (ANI): The Andhra Pradesh government introduced its draft Electronics Component Manufacturing Policy 4.0 during a roadshow organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in the state, said an official statement. The event brought together prominent industry representatives to discuss manufacturing opportunities under India's recently launched Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme. According to an official statement, the draft policy represents a comprehensive framework intended to stimulate investment, develop specialised infrastructure, and cultivate expertise throughout the electronics component manufacturing sector. The policy aligns with national objectives for expanding domestic electronics production capabilities. Union IT and Electronics Joint Secretary Sushil Pal and Andhra Pradesh IT Secretary K Bhaskar, among other officials and industry participants, attended the roadshow. The state government designed the policy to attract investment through various financial incentives, including early adoption benefits, matching incentive structures, interim support measures, and ready-to-use manufacturing facilities within dedicated component production clusters. During the event, Dixon Technologies announced plans to create 5,000 additional employment opportunities in Andhra Pradesh over the next two years as part of its regional expansion strategy. Similarly, Neolync, which operates with backing from Reliance, committed to generating 5,000 jobs within the state as part of its growth plans. The policy launch reflects broader national efforts to strengthen India's position in global electronics manufacturing and reduce dependence on imported components through domestic production capabilities. Speaking about the policy, TDP leader Pattabhi Ram said, 'In a joint workshop organised by the Govt of Andhra Pradesh, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, and India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), the Govt has announced a draft policy for Electronics Component Manufacturing Policy 4.0. 'This is to drive investment in the state, which was badly affected by the misgovernance of Jagan Reddy's rule. Now, the NDA Govt is trying to bring back the brand image of the state as a favourable investment destination. Companies like Dixon have immediately committed to bringing investment into the state,' he added. (ANI)

UNESCO, MeitY launch exercise to assess India's AI readiness
UNESCO, MeitY launch exercise to assess India's AI readiness

Hindustan Times

time2 days ago

  • Hindustan Times

UNESCO, MeitY launch exercise to assess India's AI readiness

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY), and law firm Ikigai Law (as the implementing partner) have launched a diagnostic exercise to assess India's artificial intelligence (AI) readiness. The exercise will involve UNESCO's AI Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM), a multi-dimensional tool aligned with the global standards set per the UN agency's 2021 recommendation on the Ethics of AI. The RAM, an extensive questionnaire, will assess India's AI preparedness in legal, socio-cultural, scientific and educational, economic, and technical/infrastructure aspects. Five consultations, each featuring breakout sessions on AI ethics, have been held over seven months as part of the process. A final stakeholder consultation was held in Delhi on Tuesday. People familiar with the matter said participants highlighted the lack of a unified data-sharing policy across states, the Centre, and private players, the lack of data interoperability, and the importance of being cautious with AI outputs. There was consensus that AI cannot function independently of intellectual property. A person aware of the discussions said models such as ChatGPT blur the lines between public domain and copyrighted material, prompting calls to revisit copyright law designed for the print era. The exercise will culminate in a report highlighting what is working, what is missing, and what can be done better by the year-end. 'The report will help us outline a strategy towards a safe, trustworthy, and responsible AI,' said MeitY additional secretary and India AI Mission CEO Abhishek Singh. He added that the exercise is meant to promote a pro-innovation approach with light-touch regulation focused on preventing user harm. Singh said four Indian startups have been selected to build foundation models tailored to local needs. He cited efforts to boost compute capacity to 34,000 GPUs and expand access to datasets through the AI Kosha platform. Ten countries have completed RAM reports. The assessment is underway in 72 others to identify gaps and opportunities in AI readiness, said UNESCO's Eunsong Kim. 'India is quite a unique story in the RAM conversation, because it is vast and diverse. It is also extremely vibrant in the AI ecosystem,' said Kim. Kim explained how the RAM reports benefited other nations, citing Chile's case, where the exercise improved cybersecurity, data protection, and digital policy. The process led to an AI task force and a national AI action plan in Indonesia, which is creating its RAM report. Experts cautioned that India's unique social and cultural complexities demand a deeper, more localised understanding, even as the RAM exercise offers a structured global framework. 'I do not think we fully understand the socio-economic impact AI will have on a country like India,' said Indian Institute of Technology Madras Centre for Responsible AI head B Ravindran. 'We talk about bias mitigation and explainability, often through a Western lens. But bias in India is far more complex than in the US. It is not just black and white, but every shade in between. And we have not systematically recorded that.'

No rollback of satcom recommendations, government to decide: Trai official
No rollback of satcom recommendations, government to decide: Trai official

Time of India

time3 days ago

  • Time of India

No rollback of satcom recommendations, government to decide: Trai official

NEW DELHI: The telecom regulator's views were based on an extensive consultative process involving divergent views from multiple stakeholders, and could not be reconsidered, while it's for the government to take a final call, a senior regulatory official said. "We have duly followed the extensive and transparent consultative process with multiple stakeholders sharing divergent views. It is for the government to decide," a Trai official on the conditions of anonymity told ETTelecom, adding that "a level-playing field is out of question" in the current context. "Satellite communications or satcom is a complementary service to terrestrial network providers, with no question of a level playing field between the two. The ₹500 per subscription charge is aimed at enhancing coverage and encouraging space broadband providers to offer services across the country's rural landscape." Early this week, Delhi-based Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which represents Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, in a letter to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said that the watchdog has "underestimated the potential capacities of satellite networks" while possibly overstating those of terrestrial networks. "Incorrect assumptions have led to unjustifiably low spectrum charges for satellite services relative to terrestrial networks," COAI director general SP Kochhar added in his letter to DoT secretary Neeraj Mittal. However, Trai, citing a huge capacity variation between the two sets of players, strongly defended its move. "In our recommendation, we have clearly brought out that there is no case of level-playing field between the satellite service providers and terrestrial service operators because of the huge difference of capacity between them," the senior official said. "So, the capacity of a typical satcom service provider in terms of the internet capacity, is of the order of maybe 0.5 to 1 or 2 percent of the capacity of a typical large terrestrial service provider. So there is no question of level-playing field. It is a complimentary service." The telco lobby group said that the planned capacity of Elon Musk-owned Starlink and Jeff Bezos led-Amazon Kuiper are expected to surpass the current capacity of Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea combined. The idea behind prescribing ₹500 additional charge for urban subscription, according to the official, was to "encourage and nudge satellite service providers" to offer services in the country's rural areas as well. "They can divert their capacity to urban areas to some extent, but we want to nudge them to focus on rural and remote regions. This is the background under which the recommendation was made," he added. Meanwhile, satcom players backed the regulator, and said Trai's views were aimed at bringing affordable space broadband services to bridge the existing digital divide. Telecom watchdog recommended administrative allocation of satcom spectrum with a fee pegged amounting to 4% of adjusted gross revenue (AGR), for a five-year term, and that can be extended by another 2 years. The 4% AGR fee applies to both geostationary and non-geostationary satellite operators. Trai's proposal to subsidise user terminals for satellite operators through the Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN) fund further tilts the level playing field against the terrestrial operator, especially given that a majority of the DBN levy is contributed by telcos, Kochhar added in his letter. The regulatory official said that it has recommended facilitating a target set of users that the government might want to support in unserved or rural and remote areas. "The government can consider subsidising the cost of the terminal. It is for the government to make a decision based on a targeted group or category of users." Lately, the activity in India's nascent space-led communication services sector has intensified following the entry of spaceflight company SpaceX's satellite network Starlink, partnering with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio and Sunil Mittal-driven Bharti Airtel.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store