The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), an industry body representing global internet, technology, e-commerce and fintech players operating in India, on Tuesday raised concerns of “gross judicial overreach” by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on its proposal to regulate over-the-top (OTT) platforms.
In a statement, the industry body said that the regulator’s Draft Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2026, issued in March, attempt to regulate the functionality of OTT platforms, even though these do not fall within the scope of telecommunication services.
“Moreover, provisions under the TCCCPR amendments, empowering the Trai to strip non-compliant intermediaries of their safe harbour protections stemming from Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, also constitute gross jurisdictional overreach,” the statement added.
Trai’s proposed framework seeks to introduce AI-based detection of spam and blocking of unsolicited communications via calls or text messages, while proposing penalties for commercial calls that violate regulations.
The IAMAI flagged that the proposed mandate for OTT platforms to share data with access providers amounts to unconstitutional expropriation of valuable proprietary data. “As the collection of such data is a direct result of significant intellectual and financial investment of companies, requiring companies to part with such data runs contrary to their fundamental right to carry on a profession, trade or business under the Indian Constitution,” the industry body said.
IAMAI’s submission opposes the stand taken by telecom service providers including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, advocating that platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram that offer similar services as carriers should be subject to the same set of rules, regulations and conditions as them, which will ensure a level playing field. Telcos face far stricter regulations on communications services as well as spam mitigation, while OTT players offer voice and data services that are far less regulated in comparison, giving spammers and fraudsters avenues to potentially harm consumers.
IAMAI, meanwhile, recommended harmonising the consent framework under the TCCCPR with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, which provides that consent obtained for a specific, disclosed purpose remains valid until that purpose is fulfilled or the data principal withdraws their consent.
“Alignment with the DPDP Act would therefore eliminate conflicting compliances and would allow legitimate communication to continue seamlessly until the customer exercises their right to revoke consent,” the industry body said.
