After the announcement of TRAI Bulk SMS rules and mandatory DLT registration for every business enterprise, many of us are wondering about the meaning of the commonly used terms in DLT Bulk SMS. In this article, we are going to discuss about the terminology used in the DLT SMS system.

Most commonly used terms in the DLT system

1. Access Providers: These are the Telecom Operators such as Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone, MTNL, etc. Access Providers have a major role in the framework and assist TRAI in the regulation of the DLT platform.

2. Commercial Communication: Messages in which the primary purpose is to advertise a product or service is termed as Commercial Communication. These messages are promotional in nature and are meant for business marketing.

3. Consent: Permission given by the customer to the sender to receive commercial communication is termed as Consent. It can be explicit or inferred.

4. Consent Acquirer: Registered entity obtaining customers’ consent before sending a promotional message is known as Consent Acquirer.

5. Consent Register: It is a systematic record of the consent acquired by a sender to send commercial communication to the customer. It contains all the relevant details of consent in a ledger format.

6. Consent Registrar: Consent Registrar is the Authorized Entity responsible for maintaining the consent register.

7. Consent Template: It is the template of content presented to the customer while acquiring his permission to receive the texts. The consent template consists of purpose of the consent and sender details.

8. Consent Template Register: It is a distributed ledger containing the record of each consent template identity with the complete details of the content of the consent template and the sender details.

9. Content Template for Transaction: It is a template content which is registered by a sender for sending transactional message, service message for the purpose of commercial communication. It may include fixed part as well as variable part of content.

10. Content Template for Promotion: It is a template content which is registered by a sender for sending promotional message for the purpose of commercial communication. It contains fixed content that is common across all commercial communications.

11. Content Template Register: It contains the record of every content template entity with the details of content and the sender.

12. Content Template Registrar: Authorized Entity responsible for maintaining the content template register.

13. Customer: Customer is the mobile subscriber who will receive the text message. In the new TRAI regulations, the customer has been given the right to set SMS receiving preferences, opt-out or modify the selected preferences or even register complaints against any unsolicited spam messages.

14. Customer Preference Registration Facility (CPRF): It is a facility established by an Access Provider for registering, de-registering or modifying customer preferences in respect of commercial communications.

15. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT): It is an online database system where the record of business entities, telemarketers, headers, templates will be stored in a secure and transparent manner. DLT will be managed using Blockchain technology and every detail entered here will be visible to all the entities present in the panel.

16. Entity Register: It is a distributed ledger comprising the record of all the entities registered to carry out telemarketing related functions.

17. Explicit Consent: Any consent that has been verified directly from the recipient in a robust and verifiable manner and recorded by consent registrar is called as Explicit Consent. Example, when an individual registers his mobile number with a company/website to receive product updates then this kind of consent is known as Explicit consent.

18. Header: It is a unique 6-digit string created by a business entity to send commercial communications.

19. Header Registration Facility (HRF): It is a facility established by Header Registrar for registration or de-registration of the header of a principal entity for sending commercial communications.

20. Header Register: It is a distributed ledger which keeps the record of every header, its purpose, and details of sender to whom it has been assigned.

21. Header Registrar: Authorized Entity responsible for maintaining the header register, header verification and header registration facility.

22. Inferred Consent: It is the permission that can be reasonable inferred from the customer’s conduct or the relationship between the customer and the message sender. Example, an individual opens a bank account and receives messages related to new schemes and exclusive benefits.

23. One Time Password (OTP): It is an automatically generated number that is used to authenticate and verify user’s action for a single transaction.

24. Originating Access Provider (OAP): It is the Access Provider who has provided the telecom resources to a sender.

25. Preference Register: It is a distributed ledger which keeps the record of customer preferences such as communication mode, content category, time frame, along with the customer details.

26. Promotional Messages: It is the commercial communication message sent without taking explicit consent from the recipients.

27. Recipient: Authorized user of the number to whom the message is sent.

28. Registered Telemarketer: Telemarketer registered with the Access Provider as per the specified procedure.

29. Scrubbing: Scrubbing is the process of reviewing the target customer list provided by the sender and ensuring that the commercial communications are sent to the recipient as per his registered preference and consent.

30. Sender: A person or entity who has sent the message.

31. Service Message: Message sent to a recipient to facilitate, complete or confirm a transaction or provide information related to a product or service.

32. Terminating Access Provider (TAP): It is the Access Provider of the message recipient.

33. Transactional Message: It is the message triggered by a transaction performed by the subscriber, who is also the sender’s customer. It should be sent within 30 minutes of the transaction being performed and should be directly related to it. Examples are OTP, banking transaction, product or service notifications

34. Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC): Commercial Communication sent without the consent or preference of the recipient.