TRAI has no position in approving bulk SMS, regulator says in response to Congress allegation

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday (September 8, 2025) stated that it had no position to play in approving content material for bulk SMS messages. The regulator was responding to the Indian National Congress’ allegation that it was stopped from sending a hyperlink to a video on allegations of voter fraud in Maharashtra. Party chief Praveen Chakravarty stated over the weekend that the Congress was circulating the hyperlink to the video to its personal cadre.

“No utility was acquired by #TRAI for sending SMS to a political get together’s Maharashtra cadre on how the 2024 Assembly election was ‘stolen’,” TRAI stated in a publish on social media platform X. “TRAI doesn’t approve particular person SMS templates. As per the picture, it’s clear that it was rejected by the service supplier, STPL.”

Bulk SMS messages need to be registered as a “template” in India with telcos, on account of years of anti-spam rules, which have led to strict controls on who can ship bulk SMS messages in India. People sending bulk SMS messages are required to add “templates” containing the message’s textual content to a blockchain recognised by their telecom operator. Without a registered template, telcos will filter out any unapproved bulk communications over SMS, as required by TRAI. The duty of evaluating templates lies with the telco, or its authorised blockchain expertise supplier.

The framework for this technique is specified by the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR), 2018, which TRAI printed final decade, and has constantly up to date with amendments. TRAI doesn’t seem to have explicitly prohibited political content material on such content material templates — in reality, political events are explicitly permitted as Principal Entities, who can ship SMS messages below the TCCCPR. 

Satzilio Telecom Private Limited, which operates as a “specialised Enterprise Communications service supplier” in keeping with a doc on its web site, seems to have blocked the Congress from sending out its video because it contained “protest content material”. 

“As per the picture, it’s clear that it was rejected by the service supplier, STPL,” the TRAI stated in its publish on X.