TRAI to moot mechanism for KYC-based caller name display

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• May 21, 2022 | digital desk

Vaghela stated, "We have just received a reference, and we will start work on this soon." Name as per KYC will appear when someone calls."

Digital Desk: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is soon to develop a mechanism through which the caller's name will flash on the phone screens, according to officials.

The mechanism will display the caller's KYC-based name on the mobile phone screen. Notably, TrueCaller, which is a popular caller identification software, gives similar information, but the caller's name it displays is not KYC-based.

Meanwhile, TRAI Chairman PD Vaghela said that the Department of Telecom (DoT) had informed TRAI that consultations on the matter would commence soon. 

Vaghela stated, "We have just received a reference, and we will start work on this soon." Name as per KYC will appear when someone calls."

"The mechanism will enable name-appearing on a phone screen, in accordance with KYC done by telecom companies, as per DoT norms," Vaghela added.

It is to be noted that the move is significant because the method will help identify callers based on their KYC (Know Your Customer) information, providing higher accuracy and transparency than certain apps that use crowd-sourcing data to identify callers.

According to reports, once the framework for a new KYC-based procedure is established, identity verification will become more obvious and legally tenable. Because there will be KYC linkages, it will also have a ripple effect, resulting in data cleaning on crowdsourcing apps.

When asked if the procedure would remain voluntary, sources stated that it is too early to discuss the modalities because numerous issues will be raised during the consultation stage.

It may be mentioned that TRAI has also implemented blockchain technology to curb the problem of unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) or spam calls and messages. Experts say that a KYC-based caller identification mechanism would safeguard users against rising spam calls and fraud instances.