Soon you will be able to see a caller’s name on the phone screen while receiving a call.
TRAI Initiative
Yes! You guessed right, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is soon going to initiate measures to ensure that the caller’s name flashes on the phone screen when a user receives a call.
Notably, the name which would be appearing on the screen will be as per the know your customer (KYC) record of subscribers available with the telecom operators.
After the implementation of these measures, subscribers would get to know the name of the caller even if the same is not saved in her/his phone book.
How Does This Help?
Presently, we get to know the information about some users with an unknown caller’s identity through apps such as Truecaller.
But, it has a limitation as Truecaller-like apps data is crowdsourced.
So, 100% authenticity is not assured, something which will be guaranteed in KYC data.
Basically, the KYC data will enable the authorities to verify if the service providers have conducted the process correctly or resorted to shortcuts due to which the identity of a caller may not be genuine.
What About WhatsApp Calls?
The authorities are planning to do a separate exercise on similar lines for the calls over WhatsApp.
This could be achieved as the messaging app is linked to SIM cards.
Simply put, there is a link between a user’s phone number and a WhatsApp account.
It is noteworthy here that there is a need for a separate exercise here as WhatsApp calls can also be made using computers.
So, the link between a SIM card and a WhatsApp account gets broken.
As TRAI is planning on the implementation of this, it seems that the telecom regulator has brushed aside objections by some groups which had said disclosing the name of the caller without user consent would amount to invasion of privacy.
Moreover, this matter is expected to be dealt with in detail in the consultation process.
This implementation of showing the KYC name of the caller on the screen would have an added advantage as that spam and unsolicited calls could be avoided or reported to the authority for necessary action.
As of now, despite implementing several measures, Trai has not been able to stop unsolicited commercial calls in an effective manner.
Presently Trai is working on its consultation process.
After completion, Trai would submit its recommendations to the Department of Telecommunications, which would take the final decision in the matter.
According to a source, “A full-fledged mechanism needs to be devised to implement a set of measures which would involve the DoT, Trai and the telecom operators.”
This consultation paper from Trai would highlight the issues.
Further, it would invite comments from the stakeholders after which it would hold open-house sessions across major cities before finalizing its recommendations.