We’re all familiar with nuisance calls and text messages, and in India it’s a serious problem. To address it, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) consulted with the telecoms firms to thrash out a solution. The result was a 2018 TCCCPR regulation that outlines a blockchain network to store the telco subscriber consents for specific brands and preferences such as suitable times for messages delivery. This is no small undertaking with 1.2 billion mobile phone subscribers in India of which 800 million are active. And on average, each receives eight to ten messages a day.
The scale of the Indian spam problem is significant. Since 2011 in India 1.8 million unregistered telemarketers have been disconnected and 580,000 blacklisted for unsolicited commercial communications (UCC).
But these messages aren’t just a nuisance. In some cases, they can result in substantial financial losses. For example, if a message is sent about a stock that is about to jump in price. Some of the recipients may be duped into investing. Meanwhile, the spammer bought the stock before sending the text and uses the “campaign” to offload its holding, and eventually the price drops.
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