The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, commonly referred to as TRAI, recently recommended the introduction of Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) by telecom operators. The feature will allow users to see the caller's name and might help combat spam calls. While there are already several third-party services like Truecaller that show the name of the caller, the information is mostly crowd-sourced and therefore may not be accurate. What is CNAP? Caller Name Presentation, abbreviated as CNAP, is a service similar to Truecaller that will show the caller's name. In 2022, TRAI floated a consultation paper that proposed some methods through which the feature could be implemented. After talking with telecom networks for over a year, based on the comments and inputs received from stakeholders and its analysis, the regulatory body has finalized recommendations for network providers like Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone-Idea. According to TRAI, network providers should use the name identity provided by telephone subscribers in their Customer Application Form (CAF) for CNAP, and all service providers should provide the facility to their subscribers upon request. This means the name you use when purchasing a SIM card will be the one visible to the person you are calling. As for businesses that buy bulk connections, they will be given the option to show a 'preferred name' instead of the name appearing on the customer application form. This can either be the trademark name registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, GST Council, or other unique names registered with the government. After these recommendations are accepted, TRAI says the Government of India will issue instructions for network operators to make CNAP available on all devices sold in the country after a certain cut-off date, which has not yet been finalized. How does CNAP work? According to recommendations shared by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea are to create and maintain a database that contains customer names along with their phone number. When a user gets a call, the network provider will refer and use the databases maintained by network providers to get the name of the caller and show it to the other person. However, before CNAP is rolled out country-wide, TRAI recommends that the feature be tested on a trial basis. Privacy concerns When TRAI proposed the introduction of CNAP in early 2023, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which represents Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone Idea, raised privacy concerns stating that the feature "could result in the breach of subscriber data privacy as the manufacturers of mobile devices and OS providers would amass subscriber data for the entire country." The association added that the introduction of CNAP would be similar to "building up the name and mobile number database as is in the Aadhaar database, with 3rd parties." Reliance Jio also said that displaying the name of the caller at the time of calling might "lead to various social and criminal issues" and that the customer should be asked if they want to opt-in to CNAP before activating the service on their device. Bharti Airtel also echoed similar sentiments, saying that user privacy would have to be factored in when rolling out CNAP and that the system should initially be limited to telemarketers and commercial users. Vodafone Idea said CNAP will be a step forward in combating the ever-increasing spam calls, but the feature might "conflict with the privacy concern of the calling party who may not want to flash his/her name onto the screen of the called party." If you do not want others to see your name when they get a call, TRAI notes subscribers can avail the Calling Line Identification Restriction (CLIR) facility that was introduced in 2015. How is it different from services like Truecaller? Caller identification services like Truecaller are based on crowd-sourced information, which may not always be accurate. On the other hand, the CNAP database will be based on information obtained from the Customer Application Form (CAF), which is verified using Government-recognized identity proofs. While the KYC process is not watertight, the information obtained from the CNAP database might be considerably more accurate compared to crowd-sourced services.
