The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has argued that the implementation of Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) should not be made mandatory but kept optional for telecom operators. It cited technical, privacy and cost concerns with regulator TRAI to hold its ground.
The submission came as part of a consultation process initiated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the need to introduce Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) supplementary service in telecommunication networks.
Significantly, CNAP is a supplementary service that enables the caller’s name to flash on the phone screen when someone calls. The concept is similar to Truecaller application which identifies the caller. COAI, whose members include Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, said, “CNAP should not be mandatory and instead should be optional for telecom service providers”.
“The implementation of CNAP should be left to TSPs and they may consider implementing the same keeping in view the market dynamics/business case,” COAI said.
What are the problems with implementing caller name display?
In its arguments, COAI pointed out that not all handsets are capable of supporting such functionalities. It also flagged concerns related to the privacy and confidentiality of customer information in the country.
Given that handset manufacturers and operating system providers have control over the data received through the CNAP facility, this may result in a breach of subscriber data privacy as mobile devices manufacturers and OS providers will collect subscriber data for the entire country, COAI cautioned.
COAI said, “It would be the biggest concern related to the privacy and confidentiality of customer information across the country, which would be to create a name and mobile number database with third parties, as in the Aadhaar database.”
“Won’t be cost effective”
The association wanted to know if any studies existed on the benefits of such a system. It said that a detailed cost-benefit analysis should be done before adopting the CNAP “if the implementation of the CNAP is to be considered in India”. COAI said that TRAI should assess the regulatory impact before making any recommendations.
The industry body also drew attention to the technical complexities involved in the implementation of the CNAP and said it is of utmost importance that the authority shares the draft recommendation with the industry for comments and inputs “before finalizing the same”. The industry said that while such a service can benefit customers, there are several challenges towards its implementation in India.
What did Jio say?
In a submission to TRAI’s consultation paper, Reliance Jio said that calling name presentation should not be a mandatory service given the limited availability of CNAP-enabled devices in India. “…CNAP features are good for supplementary VAS service, however, in a country where more than 375 million users (over 350 million mobile non-broadband users and over 25 million wireline users) are expected to have CNAP enabled devices. Unlikely, apart from a sizeable segment of wireless broadband users who may not even have CNAP enabled devices, it can be safely said that this should not be a mandatory service,” Jio said.
Jio also pointed out that there would be several technical issues such as increased load on signaling and potential impact on latency and interconnection related issues, and said “therefore, a cautious approach is recommended.” “The mandatory activation of CNAP service on every device raises privacy concerns,” Jio said.
Jio said that considering customer privacy concerns, the feature should not be made mandatory and if implemented voluntarily by telcos should be based on opt-in consent.
Display of a name while calling can lead to various social and criminal issues. “Therefore, it is imperative that the customer’s consent is obtained before activating the CNAP service on the device,” Jio said. Jio said it is safe to assume that the mandatory CNAP activation will not survive legal scrutiny. “Moreover, when a large segment of telecom customers who are 2G-3G feature phones, 4G feature phones, smartphones not enabled with CNAP, smartphones requiring major update to CNAP, landline users, etc. Mandatory activation is a moot point and should be avoided,” according to Jio.
Also read: Jio down: Many users complain about the network – all you want to know