Anatel cuts abusive-call limit to 1,000 a line and halts TIM AntiSpam

Anatel cuts abusive-call limit to 1,000 a line and halts TIM AntiSpam

13 November 2026: Brazil's telecom regulator Anatel has lowered the daily call volume that marks a caller as abusive from 100,000 to 1,000 calls per line, and applies the rule to individuals as well as companies. A day after the new limits started, it also ordered the operator TIM to suspend its own AntiSpam blocking tool, so outbound callers now face two shifting sets of rules at once.

Not yet independently verified. We read the two Anatel news pages but not the despachos themselves, and Anatel's pages do not mention contact centres, CPaaS or dialler vendors by name, so how those users are treated is our reading of the stated limits. TIM's response and the number of customers or calls affected are not stated. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

The two tests, both on the same day

The limits took effect on 12 November 2026 under Despacho Decisorio 100/2026/CIDC, which regulates part of Medida Provisoria 1.396 of 9 October 2026. A caller counts as abusive when, on the same day and on the same service (fixed or mobile), it meets two criteria together. It makes more than 1,000 calls per access, meaning per phone line, or more than 10,000 across all its accesses. And short calls make up 85% or more of everything it dialled.

The 85% share is unchanged. A short call is one that is not completed, goes to voicemail, or lasts six seconds or less once connected. On a plain reading, a dialler that places more than 1,000 calls from one line in a day and sees nine in ten end unanswered or in a few seconds meets both tests. Calls made from a fixed number, authenticated and identified, are not counted toward blocking.

Fifteen days without outgoing calls

A caller that meets the criteria cannot place calls for 15 days but can still receive them. The block now reaches every number tied to the caller's CPF or CNPJ, the personal and company tax registers, where before it applied only to legal entities. A business that spreads dialling across many lines does not escape through one account, and a sole trader's personal lines now sit under the same rule.

Operators keep up to ten days to notify a caller that meets the criteria. Once notified, the time to apply the block falls from ten days to five. Public bodies and providers of health, public security and civil defence services are exempt when calling within their duties. The new despacho revokes Despacho Decisorio 22/2024/RCTS/SRC, and MP 1.396 gives Anatel up to 60 days to issue rules on identifying and authenticating calls.

TIM told to switch off its AntiSpam within 24 hours

On 13 November Anatel notified TIM of a precautionary measure suspending its AntiSpam mechanism until the company makes the changes the rules require. The order must be met within 24 hours of notification. The rules in question are Despacho Decisorio 82/2026/RCTS/SRC, which set the conditions for operators' own anti-abuse tools: transparent criteria, a way for users to contest a block, and the right to receive and make legitimate calls.

Anatel says TIM did not supply the information needed to show the tool worked without harming consumers, that its blocking criteria needed more transparency, and that contesting a block had to be made easier. It also found the tool had wrongly blocked essential services run by public bodies and emergency and health services, which needed a specific Anatel action in September 2026 to unblock them.

What stays in force

The suspension is not a pause in the campaign. Anatel states that its other measures against abusive calls remain in force and that TIM must keep meeting them. The AntiSpam tool can return once TIM adapts it to the regulator's requirements. For callers on TIM lines, the order removes one blocking layer, while the 1,000-call test and the 15-day block still apply.

Related on TrustList:

• Colombia: mobile customers can cancel without retention offers from 1 October 2026, and operators must block calls from “do not originate” numbers
• FreePBX publishes four security advisories on 29 September 2026: update the Pinsets, Sangoma Connect, SIPSTATION and Contact Manager modules

Sources

• Anatel: Novas medidas para combater chamadas abusivas entram em vigor (Portuguese), 12 November 2026
• Anatel: Anatel suspende mecanismo AntiSpam da TIM por descumprimento das regras de transparencia (Portuguese), 13 November 2026