New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) In a bid to curb spam calls and messages, telecom service providers have blocked over 50 entities and disconnected more than 2.75 lakh mobile numbers and telecom resources, the government informed on Tuesday.

The action was taken after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued stringent directives to all access providers last month to immediately stop promotional voice calls from unregistered senders or telemarketers.

“Access Providers have taken stern measures against misuse of telecom resources for spamming and blacklisted over 50 entities and disconnected more than 2.75 lakh SIP DID/Mobile Numbers/Telecom resources,” said the TRAI.

These steps, the telecom regulator added, are expected to have a significant impact on reducing spam calls and providing relief to consumers.

TRAI urged all stakeholders to comply with the directives and contribute to a cleaner and more efficient telecom ecosystem.

“Any unregistered telemarketer found to be misusing these resources will face severe consequences, including disconnection of all telecom resources for up to two years and blacklisting,” it noted.

In the January-June period, the TRAI observed a significant rise in spam calls, with over more than 7.9 lakh complaints reported against unregistered telemarketers (UTMs).

Meanwhile, the regulator has granted a one-month extension to access service providers to comply with its direction regarding the whitelisting of URLs, APKs and OTT links. TRAI had earlier asked major telecom operators in the country to regulate such messages by September 1.

The move is aimed at curbing the number of spam and phishing attempts by scammers who try to dupe people using SMS service. The telecom regulator has now directed all access providers to furnish to the authority an updated status on action taken within 15 days and a compliance report within 30 days from date of issue of this direction.

The TRAI has also introduced punitive measures for non-compliance. Content templates registered under the wrong category will be blacklisted, and repeated offenses will lead to a one-month suspension of the sender’s services.