Now Reading: Pesky call complaints hit record 20.75 lakh in first half of 2026
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Pesky call complaints hit record 20.75 lakh in first half of 2026
Complaints against pesky calls and messages have surged to over 20.75 lakh in the first half of 2026, more than two-thirds of the total 31.09 lakh logged in all of 2025, the…
The Story in Brief
Complaints against pesky calls and messages have surged to over 20.75 lakh in the first half of 2026, more than two-thirds of the total 31.09 lakh logged in all of 2025, the government told Parliament on Thursday. Minister of State for Telecom Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha that over 82% of these complaints were against unregistered telemarketers. The figure marks a sharp rise from 12.84 lakh complaints in 2021, which dropped to 10.83 lakh in 2022 before climbing steadily.
However, action on disconnecting telecom resources used for pesky calls has fallen sharply. Between August and December 2024, 19.21 lakh connections were cut, but only 1.94 lakh were disconnected in all of 2025, and just 79,000 in the first half of 2026. In contrast, blacklisting of principal entities sponsoring such calls rose from 155 in late 2024 to 1,406 by June 2026.
The Indian Opinion
The government touts rising complaints as proof of public awareness, but falling disconnections tell a different story. If only 79,000 resources were cut in six months while 20 lakh complaints poured in, enforcement is losing ground. The narrative of crackdowns rings hollow when blacklisted entities, 1,406 so far in 2026, outnumber disconnected lines. A fair test: will disconnections in the second half of 2026 match or exceed the 2024 pace, or will complaints keep outrunning action?
Source: telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
