TRAI mandates prior consent for all marketing calls, limits inquiry-based consent to one week

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has introduced strict regulations to curb unsolicited commercial communications (UCC), targeting the rise of spam calls, robocalls, and artificial voice technologies. Under the new rules, telecom service providers must secure prior consent from users before any commercial messages are delivered. A significant change affects how companies use customer inquiries: marketing messages based on written or digital inquiries are now permitted for only one week. After this window, explicit permission is required to continue communication. The mandate also targets automated systems. All pre-recorded messages must now be clearly identified as such, with the source of the communication fully disclosed. To ensure enforcement, service providers are required to maintain detailed records of all outgoing commercial communications.