India, Sept. 19 -- The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday strengthened its rules against unsolicited commercial communications, placing artificial intelligence-based spam detection inside the formal regulatory framework and giving consumers a clearer route to appeal if their complaints are poorly handled.

The regulator notified the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2026, amending the 2018 code that governs promotional calls and messages.

These changes follow a draft released in March and several months of talks with operators, telemarketers, and consumer groups.

Officials say the goal is to shift from slow, complaint-based enforcement to quicker, intelligence-driven...