TRAI, DoT agree to enable default display of caller’s original name

The telecom regulator TRAI has agreed with the Department of Telecom (DoT) to enable, by default, the display of the original name of the caller as per the identity used for connection to the called party, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in its recommendation to the DoT on ‘Introduction of Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) in Telecommunication Networks’ issued in February 2024, had suggested to activate the service only upon the request of subscribers to whom call is made.

The DoT, however, in its reference back to TRAI had sought modification in the recommendation, saying that CNAP service shall be available by default to called party and if any subscriber (called party) does not require it then he/she may request to disable it as per procedure.

TRAI “noted” DoT’s view without countering it.

The exercise to start CNAP service across the globe started to prevent subscribers from fraud calls and check cybercrime activities like digital arrest, financial frauds etc.

The DoT may accept TRAI’s recommendation that CNAP of the telephone subscribers, who have availed the calling line identification restriction (CLIR) facility, should not be presented to the called party.

The CLIR facility is provided to normal subscribers, officers of central intelligence agencies and dignitaries. In case of normal subscribers, telecom operators are required to ensure thorough verification of the subscriber and make it accessible to law enforcement agencies. This facility is barred for bulk connections, call centres, telemarketers etc.

Both TRAI and DoT have agreed that the service should be provided by default to subscribers using 4G and technologies beyond it as the process will be technically difficult to implement for 2G and 3G users due to bandwidth constraints.

The DoT has agreed to TRAI’s view that after acceptance of these recommendations, the government should issue appropriate instructions for making CNAP feature available in all devices sold in India after a suitable cut-off date, say after six months from the date of notification.

According to the rule-making process, the DoT will now take a final decision on the framework of CNAP service for its implementation by default and discuss functionality-related support in mobile devices with the Ministry of Electronics and IT.Read about our editorial guidelines and ethics policy