Access Alert: TRAI recommends the Introduction of Calling Name Presentation Service in Indian Telecommunication Network

Following a public consultation held at the end of 2022, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released recommendations on the Introduction of Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) Service in the Indian Telecommunication Network.

India is currently the world’s second-largest telecommunications market, hosting over 2,000 call centres. At present, under the rules laid down in the Unified Licence regime for the provision of electronic communications, only landline and mobile numbers are required to be displayed as Calling Line Identification of incoming calls. In the absence of the calling party’s name presentation service, many genuine calls go unanswered. Given that scam calls pose a significant threat to society, leading to substantial financial and economic damage to consumers, businesses, and public bodies, TRAI is actively exploring measures to protect the public from this phenomenon.

The main features of TRAI’s recommendations are the following:

• Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) Supplementary Service – which enables the caller’s name to flash on phone screens when making calls – should be introduced in Indian telecommunication network;
• Calling Line Identification (CLI) should be redefined as the identity of the calling/originating subscriber in terms of telephone number assigned as per E.164 of ITU Recommendation/IP Address and the Calling name (CNAM) or any other identification as may be prescribed by the Licensor;
• All access service providers should provide CNAP supplementary service to their telephone subscribers upon their request;
• The name identity information provided by the telephone subscriber in the Customer Application Form (CAF) should be used for the purpose of CNAP;
• A technical model for implementation of CNAP in the Indian telecommunication network has been outlined;
• The subscriber entities holding bulk connections and business connections should be given the facility of presenting their ‘preferred name’ in place of the name appearing in the Customer Application Form (CAF); and
• The ‘preferred name’ could be the ‘trademark name’ registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, or the ‘trade name’ registered with the GST Council, or any other such unique name duly registered with the Government, provided that the subscriber entity is able to present the necessary documents to prove the ownership of such name.

Several third-party applications and some native smartphone tools already offer spam and calling party name identification services, but TRAI estimates that these services are not sufficiently reliable as they are based on crowd-sourced data. Under TRAI’s recommendations, number series allocated for businesses or telemarketers making calls to subscribers must display the name of calling entity. However, it should be noted that TRAI’s recommendations do not require OTT players to implement the CNAP service. It remains to be seen whether the Government of India will now follow TRAI’s recommendations and facilitate their prompt implementation in the country.

If you are interested in learning more about TRAI’s recommendations or Indian telecommunications legislation, please contact Chrystel Erotokritou, Compliance Manager, at [email protected] or Juliana Ramirez, Policy Analyst, at [email protected].