Madrid, March 7, 2025.- Today the first measures of the ministerial order come into force whose objective is to avoid phishing scams through telephone calls and SMS, and to ensure the identification of customer service numbers and commercial calls.
From today, telecommunications operators will be obliged to block calls and SMS of numbers that have not been attributed, assigned or allocated to a service, an operator or a customer. For example, that’s the case for numbers starting with 3 or 4.
Likewise, the numbers 900 and 800 can be used from now on to make commercial calls. Until now, these numbers could receive calls from users, but companies could not issue calls.
These measures are designed to improve the protection of citizens and provide them with tools to identify possible scams. It also facilitates the identification of commercial calls.
Prohibition of commercial calls from mobile numbers and blocking of international calls
Two new measures will enter into force on 7 June. From that date it will be forbidden to make commercial calls from a mobile number. They can only be done from geographical numbering, from numbers specially attributed for it, or, as mentioned above, from numbers 800 and 900.
Another measure that comes into force on June 7 is the obligation for operators to block calls and SMS of international origin that pretend to have originated in a Spanish number, except those of customers who are roaming.
Finally, due to its complexity, there is a measure that will enter into force 15 months after the publication of the ministerial order.
In SMS sending, an alphanumeric tag is sometimes used as an ID instead of a mobile number. This is a widespread practice in the communications of both companies and public administrations.
The measure establishes the creation of a database with these alphanumeric codes, which will be, from that date, registered and verified by the CNMC. In this way, the name of the companies or entities is protected, and any attempt to supplant is located more quickly and effectively.