Trai Eases Whitelisting Concerns for Banks and SMS Providers

New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has made an important announcement that’s bringing some much-needed relief to banks and other companies worried about the new SMS regulations. They’ve clarified that only the static parts of URLs in commercial messages need to be whitelisted, easing fears of widespread disruption in SMS deliveries starting this Tuesday.

Understanding the Changes

Despite the reassurance, senior officials at Trai acknowledged that minor disruptions could occur because not every entity has managed to get their details whitelisted or pre-approved by telecom operators. However, they emphasized that Trai has provided ample time for stakeholders to get everything in order ahead of the deadline. “While some entities may not have whitelisted their details, the majority have done so. We’re optimistic that the system will stabilize in the coming days,” shared an official with The Economic Times.

Whitelisting Mandate Takes Effect

The new whitelisting mandate, which comes into effect on October 1, requires that any commercial message featuring URLs, OTT links, and APKs (Android application packages) must be whitelisted before being sent to consumers. Failure to do so will result in these messages being blocked by telecom operators.

What Does Whitelisting Mean?

So, what exactly is whitelisting? In simple terms, entities sending commercial messages are required to provide all relevant information related to URLs, OTT links, and APKs to telecommunication companies, who will then enter this information into their blockchain-based distributed ledger technology platform. If everything checks out, the message is delivered; otherwise, it gets blocked.

Concerns from the Banking Sector

Several banks have reached out to Trai with concerns that they would struggle to send messages containing URLs because many of these messages feature dynamic links with various symbols and characters. Alongside banks, other key players like e-commerce companies and telecom operators have also expressed their apprehensions regarding the implementation of the whitelisting rules, particularly for dynamic links generated by individual users.

Collaboration with Regulatory Bodies

In a bid to minimize disruptions, Trai has also informed the Reserve Bank of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India about the new whitelisting mandate.

Timeline of Events

On August 30, Trai had extended the deadline for telecom companies to implement the whitelisting feature by an additional month, following an ultimatum given on August 20 to stop transmitting unwhitelisted messages containing URLs, OTT links, and callback numbers by September 1.

Telcos initially faced significant hurdles in whitelisting short URLs or the static parts of URLs due to the lack of clear requirements in the earlier directives from Trai. Since May 2023, the regulatory body has been urging telecom operators to implement the whitelisting mechanism, although it was clear that the industry had not yet prepared the necessary infrastructure.

In its earlier directives, Trai had instructed telcos to ensure that only whitelisted URLs, APKs, OTT links, and callback numbers were present in their content templates and to submit a compliance report within 45 days. They also emphasized the importance of maintaining traceability of messages from senders to recipients.

Looking Ahead

As we approach the implementation date, stakeholders are keenly watching how effectively these new regulations will be integrated, hoping that the initial glitches will soon be behind them.