When a user receives a call, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is expected to implement brand-new measures to ensure that the caller’s name appears on the screen. Furthermore, the name that would be 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 information is not saved in their contact list.
Users can currently use third-party apps such as 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 will.
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 forged. Another advantage of the KYC name of caller displaying on the phone screen mechanism is that spam calls can be avoided or reported.
A separate excise is also expected to be imposed in the near future for WhatsApp calls. Because WhatsApp is linked to SIM cards, a user’s phone number and a WhatsApp account are inextricably linked.
“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.