India’s private telecom operators, Vodafone Idea Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, are set to implement the Calling Number Presentation (CNAP) feature, which will display the caller’s name on the recipient’s screen. The move is aimed at tackling spam calls and mischievous activities, and is a recommendation by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
The feature will be rolled out in stages, initially displaying only the names of callers within the same telecom operator. For instance, if a Jio subscriber calls another Jio user, the caller’s name will be displayed. However, this will not be the case when a Jio subscriber calls an Airtel or Vodafone Idea user, until the government mandates data sharing between operators.
Vendors such as HP, Dell, Ericsson, and Nokia have been roped in to provide servers and software needed to make this feature possible. The operators have already conducted trials in a few circles and are now working on implementing the feature.
However, the rollout is complex, requiring data-sharing within operators’ own networks and circles, as well as a centralized caller ID database storing the names associated with numbers. The feature also requires managing and processing large amounts of data, making it a significant IT challenge.
Trai has received over 1.51 lakh complaints about spam calls in October 2024 alone, according to the latest data available. With the launch of CNAP, users will no longer need third-party apps like Truecaller to identify anonymous callers.
While the feature promises to bring transparency and enhance user experience, it also poses challenges. Operators need to resolve issues such as increased call set-up time, higher network load, and handset incompatibility. Moreover, the government’s insistence on data sharing between operators is a key hurdle in the full rollout of CNAP.
The government has asked operators to expedite the implementation, and telecom solutions providers like Nokia and Ericsson are already actively involved in the process. With the feature set to be implemented in stages, it remains to be seen how the rollout will unfold and the challenges that operators will face in the process.