Telecom operators have urged the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to segregate personal calls from bulk commercial traffic and introduce charges for the latter, arguing that the absence of termination costs has made spam cheap and scalable. At present, call termination charges are zero, with personal and bulk calls often using the same interconnection routes.
In submissions to the regulator, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have said the current interconnection framework treats person-to-person (P2P) communication and application-to-person (A2P) traffic alike, despite sharp differences in volume, intent and risk. They have contended that this design, originally meant for individuals calling each other, is ill-suited to an environment where millions of automated calls and messages are generated daily by enterprises, telemarketers and aggregators.
The operators have proposed that P2P traffic continue under mandatory interconnection obligations, while bulk A2P voice calls and messages be routed through separate, commercially negotiated interconnection points. They have argued that a clear separation would allow more effective monitoring and enforcement, while shifting part of the cost of spam control to those generating high volumes of traffic.
Deterring Spam Through Economic Disincentives
To deter misuse, the telcos have suggested charges of about Rs 0.50 per minute for A2P voice calls and Rs 0.12 per SMS. According to them, such pricing would make spam economically unattractive without affecting ordinary consumers, who largely rely on P2P communication.
The submissions have also flagged that, under the current zero-charge regime, spam callers are able to exploit the network at scale, while the responsibility for detection, filtering and blocking rests primarily with the receiving operator. This, they said, creates an uneven burden and limits the effectiveness of existing anti-spam measures.
Modernizing the Interconnection Infrastructure
Separately, the operators have backed changes to the physical interconnection framework. They have proposed mandatory state-level or licence service area (LSA)-level interconnection, replacing the present system that often requires multiple local interconnection points across districts and cities, increasing cost and complexity.
They have also urged Trai to mandate IP-based interconnection for all new links between operators and to set a clear timeline for migrating away from legacy systems. A full shift to IP-based interconnection, they said, is necessary to support services such as VoLTE, rich communication services and inter-operator video calling, while improving network efficiency and oversight.