The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday said over 3,000 registered senders have complied with the new requirement by whitelisting more than 70,000 links.

In a major step to curb the misuse of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) in messages, TRAI in August issued a directive, instructing all access providers to block any traffic containing URLs, Android Package Kits (APKs) or over-the-top (OTT) links that have not been whitelisted.

This directive is all set to come into effect from October 1. It was supposed to come into effect on September 1, but the telecom service providers and the enterprises requested an extension.

This initiative by TRAI is designed to safeguard consumers from unsolicited messages containing malicious links while fostering a transparent and secure communication system. By complying with these new rules, both access providers and registered senders can help create a more reliable and safe messaging environment.

“To ensure smooth flow of SMS traffic containing URLs, TRAI advises registered senders to promptly upload their whitelisted URL/APK/OTT links to the portal of the respective access providers. So far, over 3,000 registered senders have complied with this requirement by whitelisting more than 70,000 links,” TRAI said.

Senders who fail to whitelist their links by the due date will not be able to transmit any messages containing URL/APK/OTT links, the regulator added.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel on Wednesday launched an artificial intelligence (AI) powered spam detection solution that will significantly solve the issue of spam calls and messages for its customers.

A first-of-its-kind solution by a telecom service provider in the country, the tool will alert customers in real time to all suspected spam calls and SMSes. The solution is free of cost and will get auto-activated for all Airtel customers without them having to raise a service request or download an app.