TRAI seeks enforcement powers under IT Act against Truecaller, other call management apps

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has sought powers under the Information Technology Act to act against call management applications and digital platforms that allegedly tag or block calls originating from designated 140 and 1600 series numbers as spam, people familiar with the matter told Economic Times.According to the report, the platforms include Truecaller, Hiya and Whoscall. At present, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India cannot initiate enforcement action against these entities as they are classified as intermediaries under the Information Technology Act and do not fall under the telecom licensing framework overseen by the Department of Telecommunications.An official told ET that TRAI is not seeking to regulate call management apps or digital platforms directly, but wants the authority to be able to step in when a platform violates applicable rules or frameworks governing telecom-related communications.To address this gap, TRAI has requested to be designated as an “authorised agency” under the IT Act. This would allow the regulator to issue formal notices to platforms and seek compliance where required, the report said.Officials cited by Economic Times said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is believed to have accepted TRAI’s request in principle. Following this, the Department of Telecommunications is expected to take the process forward.The move comes amid rising friction between telecom operators and call-filtering platforms over the tagging of legitimate commercial and service calls as spam, a practice that operators argue undermines regulated numbering frameworks and affects consumer communication.