Truecaller challenges TRAI over 140 and 1600 spam rules

A public dispute has erupted between caller identification service Truecaller and India's telecom regulator over rules that the company says are worsening the nation's spam call problem. The clash centers on dedicated phone number series introduced to help consumers identify legitimate business communications but which have instead become widely distrusted.

On July 8, Truecaller CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala publicly challenged the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on social media platform X. He argued that a mandate preventing the app from displaying community-reported spam labels for calls from the 140 and 1600 number series has backfired, enabling spammers and causing consumers to ignore millions of calls daily, including legitimate ones from banks and businesses.

The regulatory framework, which designated the 140 series for telemarketing and the 1600 series for service and transaction-related calls from regulated entities like banks, was introduced to curb spam and help users identify business outreach. However, according to Truecaller's internal data, the simultaneous restriction on spam labeling has eroded consumer trust. The company states that over 51 million calls...