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Navigating TRAI's upcoming PE-TM rules: A guide for businesses

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has introduced new regulations that will take effect on December 1, 2024. These regulations are aimed at enhancing the security of digital communications and improving the traceability of commercial messages, including one-time passwords (OTPs). Here are the key points:

Who is impacted?

  1. Telecom Service Providers (TSPs): They must implement systems to trace the origin of all commercial messages.

  2. Businesses and organizations: Entities that send bulk SMS messages, including OTPs, must comply with the new traceability requirements.

  3. Consumers: They may experience delays in receiving OTPs due to the enhanced security measures.

Actions to be taken

  1. Message traceability:

    1. TSPs must ensure that the trail of all messages from senders to recipients is traceable.

    2. Any message with an undefined or mismatched telemarketer chain will be rejected.

  2. Content and header registration:

    1. Businesses must register their message content templates and headers (sender IDs) with TSPs.

    2. Misuse of headers or content templates will lead to immediate suspension of services for the sender.

  3. Prohibition of unapproved links:

    1. From September 1, 2024, TSPs are prohibited from transmitting messages containing URLs, APKs, OTT links, or callback numbers that are not whitelisted by the senders.

In line with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) guidelines, the PE-TM (Principal Entity–Telemarketer) chain has been introduced to ensure the traceability of SMS communications. This mechanism links Principal Entities (PEs) with Telemarketers (TMs) to prevent spam and the misuse of SMS headers and templates.

Effective December 1, 2024, SMS traffic without a valid PE-TM chain will be rejected. Access providers are mandated to monitor compliance and issue daily warnings to defaulters until November 30, 2024. Additionally, Principal Entities (Zenoti customers) must register their links with telemarketers on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) portals.

Telemarketer chain registration process

Zenoti customers must follow the following steps for compliance:

  1. Register Zenoti, Infobip and GupShup as approved telemarketers in your DLT portals.

  2. Establish PE > TM chains for both providers (Zenoti, Infobip and GupShup Mobile) in the respective portals.

    Refer to the table below for the Telemarketer Names and IDs of the partners involved in this process:

    Provider

    Infobip Telemarketer Name and ID

    GupShup Telemarketer Name and ID

    Zenoti Telemarketer Name and ID

    Jio

    INFOBIP INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, 110200001152

    Gupshup Technology India Pvt. Ltd., 120210000037

    ZENOTI India Private Limited, 1102557490000083313

    Vodafone

    INFOBIP INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, 110200001152

    Lotus Transforms Private Limited, 1702157390412895696

    ZENOTI India Private Limited, 1102557490000083313

    Airtel

    INFOBIP INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, 110200001152

    GS Digital Technology Private Limited, 1002407114627154

    ZENOTI India Private Limited, 1102557490000083313

    BSNL

    INFOBIP INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, 110200001152

    Gupshup Technology India Pvt. Ltd., 120210000037

    ZENOTI India Private Limited, 1102557490000083313

    Videocon

    INFOBIP INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, 110200001152

    Lotus Transforms Private Limited, 1702157390412895696

    ZENOTI India Private Limited, 1102557490000083313

    Tata

    INFOBIP INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, 110200001152

    Gupshup Technology India Pvt. Ltd., 120210000037

    ZENOTI India Private Limited, 1102557490000083313

  3. Use the following steps to register links on DLT portals, using the Airtel DLT portal as an example:

    1. Log in to the Airtel DLT Portal as an enterprise using your registered credentials.

      SMS_01.png

    2. Navigate to DLT > Manage SMS Workflow from the left menu bar.

    3. Select Register New PE-TM Mapping.

      SMS_02.png

    4. Click Start Creating.

      SMS_03.png

    5. Search for the Telemarketer using the Reference ID, DLT ID, or Name.

      SMS_04.png

    6. Select your telemarketer from the list and click Proceed.

      SMS_05.png

    7. Click Save to complete the process.

      SMS_06.png

      The approval request will be sent to the telemarketer for verification.

      SMS_07.png

    8. Click View Workflow to check the status of your PE-TM request.

      SMS_08.png

  4. Share the generated chain ID information with Zenoti for processing approval.

  5. After Zenoti, Infobip and GupShup approve the chains, log in to your respective portal and complete the final approval to finalize the chain linking process.

Following the above steps ensures adherence to TRAI guidelines and prevents interruptions in SMS traffic.

Note: Refer to the following links for the process specific to other telecom providers:

Note:

  • All Principal Entities (Zenoti customers) must define their Telemarketer (TM) on the respective DLT portals. Otherwise, SMS services may be filtered, and your credits may be consumed without messages being delivered.

Provide approved SMS templates to Zenoti for effective messaging

Customers must share their approved SMS templates from their DLT portals with Zenoti to ensure effective message sending and delivery.

  1. Collect the following information for all customers and share with Zenoti to speed up approval requests with Infobip and GupShup:

    • Chain ID

    • PE ID

    • Customer Name

    • DLT Portal

    • Sender ID/Header

  2. Download the registered SMS templates from India DLT portals for all customers and share them with Zenoti. Refer to following Airtel DLT portal as an example:

    SMS_09.png

  3. After approvals are completed by the Infobip and GupShup teams, log in to the customer DLT portal and approve, as seen in the example below:

    SMS_10.png
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