Every day, ordinary people receive various calls from unknown 10-digit numbers. Many of these calls—purportedly from gas, electricity, or courier companies—often turn out to be fraudulent. To curb such unwanted and fake calls, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has taken a significant step. TRAI has introduced a new system that will make it much easier for customers to distinguish between genuine and fake calls.

**New measures to eliminate fake calls**
Most fraudsters use standard 10-digit numbers to pose as representatives of major companies and target the public. To tackle this issue, TRAI has implemented Phase-I of the ‘1601’ number series. Legitimate businesses will now be assigned special numbers starting with ‘1601’. This will help consumers easily identify whether an incoming call is from an authentic service provider or a fraudster. The primary objective of this initiative is to strengthen public trust in voice-based communication.

**Services covered by the 1601 number series**
The first phase of this new TRAI regulation covers the utility and logistics sectors. This means that electricity distribution companies, water utilities, city gas distribution companies, and LPG distributors will now use this new number series. Additionally, courier companies, express logistics providers, and parcel delivery services have also been brought under the ambit of the ‘1601’ series. However, the ‘1600’ series will continue to be used for Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) and government entities, ensuring that critical financial calls do not get mixed up with other services.

**90-day deadline for companies**
Strict instructions have been issued to Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) to implement this new system on the ground as quickly as possible. TRAI has mandated that the migration and onboarding of eligible entities be completed within 90 days of the order's issuance. Crucially, numbers from the '1601' series will be allocated directly to eligible entities following due verification. Intermediaries and aggregators have been completely excluded from this process to eliminate any possibility of number misuse.

**Strictly for essential communication; no promotional use**
This new number series has been introduced for the convenience of customers; therefore, it can be used solely for service and transactional voice calls. Telecom companies will obtain an undertaking from the entities prior to allocating the numbers. No company will be permitted to use the '1601' number for any form of promotional call.

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