India extends consultation on telecom commercial communications customer preference regulations

Watchdog acknowledges need for detailed examination of proposed changes.

Stakeholders will now have until 19 April 2026 to submit comments as part of the consultation on the proposed changes to India's telecom commercial communications customer preference regulations (TCCCPR).

Aimed at curbing unsolicited commercial communications (UCC), the TCCCPR was first issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in 2018. It has since been amended within the same year and in 2025.

A third amendment is ongoing, with TRAI publishing the draft in March 2026. At the time, the regulator noted: "Based on the feedback from stakeholders during various interactions as well as in light of recent developments like implementation of AI-based (artificial intelligence) detection of UCC by major access providers, a need has been felt to make amendments in some of the existing provisions, and also to add some new provisions to make the regulatory framework more effective and efficient."

The proposed changes include replacing "such messages" with "such messages or voice calls" in the TCCCPR. The planned revision also seeks to insert the definition of an application-to-person call, which is initiated without direct human dialling.

In a new statement, India's Ministry of Communications said: "In view of the requests received from stakeholders for extension of time for submission of comments on the ground that the proposed amendments to the [TCCCPR] have significant business, commercial, regulatory, technical, and financial implications and therefore require detailed examination and internal deliberations.

"Therefore, it has been decided to extend the last date of submission of comments on the issues raised in the Consultation Paper by 19th April 2026 and counter comments by 4th May 2026."

According to the government, it will not be granting a further entension.