NEW DELHI: The telecom service providers will have to provide caller ID facilities or calling name presentation (CNAP) features to its users as supplementary services, as recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday.
With this feature, the users’ phone will display the name (ID proof name) provided by the TRAI. It said a technical model for implementation of CNAP in Indian telecommunication networks has been outlined.
“All access service providers should provide calling name presentation (CNAP) supplementary service to their telephone subscribers upon request,” said TRAI in a statement. If the Department of Telecommunication accepts the recommendation, then the government will come up with instructions for making CNAP feature available on all devices sold in India after a cut-off date. The need for features came up as many users have raised a concern that in the absence of calling party name presentation service, they prefer not to attend calls from unknown telephone numbers, as most of such calls are unsolicited commercial communications (UCCs) from unregistered telemarketers. As a result, even genuine calls may go unanswered.
For the subscriber entities holding bulk connections and business connections, TRAI recommended that they will be given facility of presenting their “preferred name” in place of the name appearing in the Customer Application Form (CAF). 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 registered with the government, provided that the subscriber entity is able to present necessary documents to prove the ownership of such a name.