Microsoft, Tech Mahindra collaborate to curb spam calls menace in India using blockchain

Tech Mahindra is collaborating with Microsoft to build a distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based solution to address Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) conforming to the regulations issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Last month, TRAI notified new regulations that aim to curb the menace of unsolicited calls. It said that the new regulations would encourage adoption of DLT, commonly known as blockchain, to ensure regulatory compliance while allowing innovation in the market.

Tech Mahindra and Microsoft have been jointly working with the regulator since the time this regulation was being formally structured. The blockchain-based solution, built on Microsoft Azure, has been designed following consultations with TRAI and multiple stakeholders in the value chain, the companies said.

“This Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)-based solution will enable enterprises to stop financial frauds and perpetration of misleading financial information by unregistered telecom marketers who rampantly use the SMS service of Telcos”, said Rajesh Dhuddu, Global Practice Leader, Blockchain, Tech Mahindra.

The blockchain solution will essentially be “a shared, secured ledger of UCCs distributed across a network of computers, which will ensure a transparent and verifiable system to help companies mitigate UCC on their networks.” It is in line with the recently passed TRAI regulation and will enable all ecosystem players to comply with it.

The solution will bring various stakeholders in the ecosystem on the blockchain, helping telecom service providers and telemarketers manage preference registration, consent acquisition, dynamic preference setting, stakeholder onboarding, header registration, template registration, scrubbing service, and complaint handling and tracking.

“The intersection of cloud and blockchain will ensure a new way of monitoring and enforcing compliance throughout the ecosystem. Through this solution we will be able to help service providers be compliant with the new regulation. With a Microsoft Azure blockchain-powered solution, we will ensure that we mitigate loopholes used by fraudsters and spammers to reach end users,” Prashant Shukla, National Tech Officer, Microsoft India, said.