Telcos implement suffixes for SMS headers as per TRAI amendment

The telecom industry said that it has successfully implemented suffixes to SMS headers, as per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) latest amendment. This move is believed to improve transparency of communications and reduce spam and unsolicited messages. 

These suffixes for SMS headers include promotional, service-related, transactional and Government communications, as mandated by the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR) vide its amendment to the TCCCP Regulation.

“This implementation has enhanced transparency and consumer protection as such categorisation enables subscribers to easily identify the nature of incoming messages, reducing spam, strengthening compliance and improving overall trust and convenience for users,” COAI said in its statement about the suffixes. The industry body mentioned that the suffixes allow customers to identify promotional messages and avoid unwanted marketing communication. It also allows regulatory authorities to easily monitor, track, and enforce compliance by distinguishing between types of messages.

Interestingly, although the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) now supports the use of message suffixes, not all its members were initially aligned with this stance. During TRAI’s consultation on the proposed spam regulation amendment, Vodafone Idea (Vi) raised concerns, arguing that the introduction of suffixes would limit the flexibility for businesses to accurately represent their brand names in commercial messages. Vi highlighted that message headers already have a restricted character count, and adding a suffix would further constrain this space.