Only 16% of Indians have enabled this feature to block spam calls

Only about 16% of India's 1.35 billion mobile subscribers have registered their communication preferences under the Do Not Disturb (DND) facility, according to official data.

Quarterly data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) showed that more than 1.12 billion users are still open to receiving promotional calls and messages from registered telemarketers.

About 224 million subscribers had registered their preferences in the DND registry as of June 30, 2026, out of a total mobile subscriber base of 1.348 billion.

The regulator said over 1.12 billion subscribers have not registered any preference and are therefore "accessible for all commercial communications from registered telemarketers and senders."

How to block spam calls

Consumers who wish to control promotional communications can register or modify their preferences through the TRAI DND app, their telecom operator's app or website, or by calling or sending an SMS to 1909.

The data showed that registered DND preferences helped block about 1.48 billion promotional calls and 7.3 billion promotional SMS during the April-June quarter after verification against users' preferences.

During the quarter, telecom networks originated 13.16 billion promotional calls through the designated 140 series and 248.06 billion commercial SMS sent by registered telemarketers and principal entities.

TRAI said the dedicated 140 series allows consumers to identify promotional calls, while the 1600 series has been earmarked for service and transactional calls from banks, financial institutions, insurance companies and government entities, helping distinguish important communications from promotional ones.

Meanwhile, telecom operators continued enforcement against unsolicited commercial communications (UCC), barring 1,37,053 telecom resources for 15 days for first-time violations and disconnecting 46,786 telecom resources for one year for repeat violations during the quarter.

Another 263 senders were blacklisted for one year and 2,873 SMS headers were blocked.

Overall, action was taken against about 183,000 telecom resources during the quarter.

The report also highlighted the growing use of artificial intelligence to combat spam originating from ordinary 10-digit mobile numbers that bypass the regulated telemarketing framework.

Telecom service providers flagged 22.99 billion incoming calls and 1.44 billion incoming SMS as suspected spam using AI-based systems during April-June. They also issued warning notifications to about 243,000 entities suspected of sending spam after the mechanism was introduced on June 23.

According to the report, India recorded 730.82 billion outgoing calls during the quarter, against which 1.085 million complaints related to unsolicited commercial communications were registered. Of these, 553,000 complaints were found actionable.

The TRAI DND app accounted for 89% of all spam complaints received during the quarter, with 966,000 complaints being lodged through the application.