India Seeks to Solve Telemarketing Spam Problem with Use of Blockchain Technology

It’s estimated that there are over 30 billion commercial messages received by subscribers from telemarketers monthly, most of which are unsolicited. With this, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is considering the use of blockchain technology to put a stop to this type of spam, Cointelegraph reported.

Because of blockchain’s ability to accurately track activity and provide transparency within a network, Trai claims that this will help in identifying annoying telemarketers who spam their subscribers with unwanted messages. To avoid detection, these spammers often use 10-digit phone numbers that are unregistered.

Trai believes that the adoption of blockchain tech will quickly make this sort of approach obsolete. RS Sharma, Trai’s chairman, said that their division is perhaps the first to ever use blockchain tech as a form of regulatory technology applied on a such a massive scale.

“Blockchain will ensure two things — non-repudiation and confidentiality,” Sharma said. He continued that only those who are verified will have access to a subscriber’s information. And even then, messages should be sent only if there’s a need to deliver a relevant service.

If there are irregularities concerning consent, subscribers can simply revoke permissions whenever they wish via a Trai app. So if an unknown 10-digit number started spamming messages, telecom users can report the exchange and the information can swiftly be matched using the blockchain ledger.

In 2010, Trai rolled out a “Do Not Disturb” registry where 230 million subscribers listed themselves, but this has so far proven ineffective in handling the amount of spam sent. But with the help of blockchain, Trai hopes that the issue can be resolved.

Public comment on Trai’s Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations 2018 will be welcome starting June 11, while finalization is slated in July. Included in the regulation is the periodic review regarding subscribers’ consent to commercial messages to ensure misconduct like spamming is avoided.