TRAI seeks views on making caller’s name display on cellphones mandatory

Telecom regulator TRAI has sought stakeholders' views on whether caller ID display on mobile phones must be made available to all consumers as a mandatory to check pesky and fraud calls.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) stated that the introduction of the Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) facility in telecommunication networks aims to empower subscribers to take an informed decision while receiving incoming calls and reduce the harassment of subscribers from unknown/ spam callers.

"Further, DoT has requested TRAI to explore the telecom network readiness and feasibility of providing the proposed CNAP facility to all telephone subscribers (smartphone and feature-phone owners)," TRAI said in its consultation paper seeking public comments.

Also Read | Airtel launches 5G Plus service at Lohegaon Airport

There are apps like 'Truecaller' and 'Bharat Caller ID & Anti-spam', which provide calling party name and spam identification facilities, but the information is based on crowdsources, which may not be reliable, the TRAI said in the consultation paper on "Introduction of CNAP in Telecommunication Networks".

The regulator has sought public comments on the paper by December 27 and counter comments by January 10, 2023.

For the implementation of CNAP service in the telecom networks, it would be necessary that the service providers have access to a database which contains the correct name identity information of each telephone subscriber, the TRAI said.