TRAI and DoT Approve Implementation of Feature to Display Caller Names During Incoming Calls

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday approved a proposal by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which mandates the name of the caller to be displayed as the default on the receiver's phone. The feature, called Calling Name Presentation (CNAP), will leverage the caller's information registered after verifying their identity during the SIM registration process. It will be a supplementary service offered in association with a basic telecom service.

Caller ID for Incoming Calls

According to TRAI, the CNAP service will be enabled for all telecom subscribers in India by default. If any party does not wish to access the feature, they may request their telecom service provider (TSP) to disable it. Once rolled out, it will display the name and identity information of the calling party on the called party's smartphone, without leveraging any third-party application, such as TrueCaller.

Such a measure is claimed to help the called party make an informed decision about taking the call. Further, TRAI said that it could help in curbing unwanted spam calls. Currently, only mobile or landline numbers are displayed as Calling Line Identification (CLI) during incoming calls, with no mandate for CNAP.

Presently, in Indian Telecom Networks, only the mobile/ landline numbers are being displayed as Calling Line Identification (CLI) during incoming calls. There is no mandate in the license for providing CNAP supplementary services.

The telecom watchdog said that each access service provider will establish and operate a Calling Name (CNAM) database comprising the subscriber's name against their telephone number. When a phone call is received, the terminating access service provider will query its Local Number Portability Database (LNPD) to determine the originating access service provider of the call.

Prior to its nationwide rollout, the DoT has carried out a trial and assessment of the implementation of the CNAP service for 4G and 5G networks by telecom operators in select cities. It was initially set to be tested for both circuit-switched and packet-switched networks. However, TSPs reported various technical issues, such as the non-availability of software patches and the requirement for technical upgrades. Therefore, its testing was only conducted for packet-switched networks.

CNAP will be offered as a supplementary service together with or in association with a basic telecom service that may be common to a number of TSPs, as per TRAI. However, CNAP will not be offered as a standalone service.