Trai to leverage blockchain solution to control pesky calls, messages faces legal problem


By MYBRANDBOOK


Trai to leverage blockchain solution to control pesky calls, messages faces legal problem

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has announced a plan to deploy blockchain use-case in the telecom sector to curb the menace of spam messages. The plan faces a legal hurdle, following protests by telemarketers.



One such telemarketer, Venets Media, has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court, alleging that Trai’s move is "detrimental to free, fair commerce & competition, regulatory ethics, and also the arm’s length principle." It added that software company Tanla Solutions – an implementing partner of the distributed ledger technology (DLT) for Bharti AirtelVodafone Idea and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. - is itself a telemarketer, thus raising conflict of interest issues.



The High Court gave Trai time till June 15 to reply.



Arun Adlakha, advocate for Venets Media, told that in 2018, Tanla acquired Karix Mobile, a retail telemarketing company which provides A2P marketing solutions including bulk SMS. “Karix is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tanla and together, they control 40% volume of the entire SMS industry. This is what has put the entire industry against Tanla,”.



Telemarketers fear Tanla will be able to monitor promotional, transactional and commercial service SMSes that may give it an ‘unfair competitive advantage’ over smaller firms.



While the three telcos have subscribed to Tanla’s service Trubloq, Reliance Jio’s blockchain partner is IBM, a pure-play tech company.

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