To DoT from Trai: Request that telecoms provide caller ID

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) should need the caller name identification function in the telecom network, according to a statement released on Friday by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). This implies that consumers would be able to see the name of anonymous callers on their phone displays if the DoT accepts the regulator’s recommendations, which should assist reduce financial scams committed over the phone.

First, Trai has suggested testing and evaluating the introduction of Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) service with the subscriber base of every telecom service provider in a single licensed service area (LSA). It said that the service should be made available across India after the testing.

Users depend on applications such as Truecaller for caller identification. But according to Trai during the consultation process, one of the reasons he suggested adding such a function to the telecom network is because applications like Truecaller rely on crowdsourced data, which is often unreliable.

Trai said that “all access service providers should provide Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) supplementary service to their telephone subscribers upon their request” as one of its recommendations, which were made more than a year after the survey.

Trai’s position differs significantly from that of telecoms and other consumer organizations, which claim that if the feature is adopted, all users’ personal information would be required, along with a permission procedure that may raise the risk of a data breach. In addition to privacy concerns, telcos brought up technical challenges such longer call setup times, the effects of latency, and incompatibility across devices, among other things.

“CNAM (calling name) of the telephone subscribers, who have availed the calling line identification restriction (CLIR) facility, should not be presented to the called party,” Trai said in response to concerns about privacy and consent.

Only regular subscribers, officers of central intelligence agencies, and dignitaries are permitted to retain their identities, according to CLIR. Telemarketers are not subject to the same rules. A universal option to remove one’s name from the CNAP cannot be provided, according to Trai, as telemarketers may decide to conceal their identities out of malice. “Under such circumstances, phone users would still fall prey to frauds, phishing, and spam that are spread by dishonest people and unregistered telemarketers,” the statement said.

Regarding phone compatibility, Trai suggested that DoT provide the necessary guidelines so that, after an acceptable deadline, say six months from the date of notice, the CNAP function may be accessed on all handsets marketed in India.

The Customer Application Form (CAF) is the only tool the telecoms may use to add name identification information for CNAP purposes. Trai has pressured DoT to provide criteria for user-made name changes in CAF.

As we firmly think that number identification is essential to ending the issue of spam and scam calls, we find it encouraging that Caller ID is becoming recognized as a vital building element of the information communication economy,” a statement from Truecaller said.

According to Truecaller, CNAP would not be a competitive service that could match the whole array of features and services that it provides to its more than 374 million subscribers.

Trai has provided technical models on how carriers might implement the service, among other important suggestions. It said that the name information of the subscriber entity must always be given to the contacted party in the event that calls come from 140 level numbers or any other number series assigned to registered telemarketers for making transactional or service-related calls.

The unified license will be amended as part of the CNAP service. Trai suggested adding two new words to the Unified Licence’s Annexure-I: Calling Name (CNAM) and CNAP.