Telecom industry body the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Tuesday expressed its approval for the government’s decision to intervene and address the escalating threat posed by spam and scam calls originating from Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms.
This follows a recent meeting of the Joint Committee of Regulators (JCoR), where it was decided that the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) would take the lead in addressing this issue.
The industry views this as a long-awaited move, particularly considering the increasing shift in spam and scam activities towards OTT communication apps such as WhatsApp, Signal, and others.
While the department of telecommunications (DoT) and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have been implementing stricter regulations on Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) on traditional telecom networks, similar control over OTT platforms has been lacking.
According to COAI, MeitY’s involvement signifies a shift in perspective, where the responsibility of regulating digital platforms will now be vested in the relevant ministries, rather than unfairly burdening telecom operators.
COAI emphasised the significance of this move, highlighting the limited control that TSPs have over what transpires on OTT apps, even when the user is the same.
While the telecom number can only be traced to the city where the mobile is located, there is no way to track the activities of the OTT communication app initially issued on the mobile number but now running on a separate handset with a different SIM card. This occurs because the app and SIM are not tightly bound together after installation, COAI director-general S.P. Kochhar said.