The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is expected to implement new measures soon to ensure that a caller’s name appears on the screen when a user receives a call. Furthermore, the name displayed would be based on the telecom operators know your customer (KYC) record of users.
When this measure is implemented, subscribers will be able to determine the caller’s name even if the caller’s contact is not saved in their contact list.
Users can now use third-party apps like Truecaller to determine the identity of an unknown caller. It is important to note that Truecaller-like apps have limitations because the data is crowdsourced, so 100% authenticity cannot be guaranteed, whereas KYC data can.
Advantage of KYC
Furthermore, the KYC data will allow authorities to ensure that service providers followed the process correctly and did not take shortcuts that could lead to a caller’s identity being compromised. Another advantage of the KYC name of caller displaying on the phone screen mechanism would be the possibility of avoiding or reporting spam calls.
A separate excise is also expected to be done for the calls over WhatsApp in the near future. As WhatsApp is linked to SIM cards, there is a direct link between a user’s phone number and a WhatsApp account.
“A full-fledged mechanism needs to be devised to implement a set of measures which would involve the DoT, Trai and the telecom operators,” a source said.
