TRAI orders Airtel to pay a fine of Rs. 2.81 billion

If the telco is unable to contest the order, it would be forced to pay a fine of Rs. 2.81 crore because it was unable to stop the UCC.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), a major stakeholder in the Indian communications industry, has fined Bharti Airtel. A financial disincentive, or, a fine of Rs 2,81,39,000 has been imposed by TRAI on Airtel. The telecom provider has made the information on a stock exchange listing public. On September 27, 2023, TRAI gave Airtel the order. Due to Airtel's inability to reduce the amount of unsolicited commercial communications (UCC) delivered through its network, the telecom regulatory authority has imposed a financial penalty. Spam or messages that clients don't wish to receive are known as UCC.

The violation was disclosed by Airtel, and it was described as "failure to curb the Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) sent through Company's network for the complaints as required under the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018, for the quarter ended December 2021."

Airtel added that it is presently analysing the TRAI order and determining what should come next. If the telco is unable to contest the order, it would be forced to pay a fine of Rs. 2.81 crore because it was unable to stop the UCC. Reduced spam and unwanted messages are a top priority for TRAI and the government.

Since Airtel was unable to reduce the UCC on its network for the quarter ending in December 2021, it was punished. The telecoms already have a stronger mechanism in place to combat UCC or spam messages on their networks, thus it is already a very old issue.

In order for the telcos to be aware of the spam and fraudulent mails, TRAI even requested that they share the data among one another. Consumers in India suffer greatly from spam mailings. The TRAI has been working to create systems that make it difficult to stop spam mailings.