Spam calls: Vodafone Idea, Jio, Airtel tap vendors for caller ID service

Are you inundated with spam calls? Soon, you will be able to see the caller's name flash on your phone screen without installing a third-party app like Truecaller.

India’s private telecom operators Vodafone Idea Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd have tapped vendors such as HP, Dell, Ericsson, and Nokia for servers and software needed to make this feature possible, according to three senior executives familiar with the matter.

“We are ready to implement CNAP (calling name presentation) and have ordered the equipment,” an executive at one of the three telecom operators cited earlier said. The operators have conducted trials in a few circles as well.

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The CNAP feature, first recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in February last year, will be rolled out in stages. Initially, it will display only the callers' names associated with a telecom operator. If a Jio subscriber calls another Jio user, the caller’s name will be displayed. But not if the same subscriber calls an Airtel or Vodafone Idea user, at least till the government mandates sharing customer data between operators.

Feature phone users are also expected to be excluded from the rollout because of hardware and software limitations.

“Nokia is already actively involved in implementing CNAP solutions for telecom networks in India, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and enhancing the mobile user experience,” said Arvind Khurana, regional VP and country head – cloud & network services, Nokia India, in response to Mint’s queries.

Indians made 1.51 lakh complaints about spam calls in October 2024 alone, according to the latest data available with Trai.

Currently, users need a third-party app like Truecaller to find out the identity of anonymous callers. Now, to display a caller’s name, telecom operators will use the details available in the customer application form (CAF), which every user fills out when applying for a phone connection.

“The government has asked operators to expedite on getting the software, which can correlate names and numbers between all the circles of a telecom operator’s network across the country,” a second senior telecom executive quoted earlier.

The executive said the software can come from companies like Nokia and Ericsson, and the servers can come from firms such as HP and Dell.

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In February this year, Trai again asked DoT to urgently introduce CNAP for transparency and avoid financial frauds, at least from businesses who buy bulk connections and often spam users.

Complex rollout

However, the rollout is complex. Operators require data-sharing within their own networks and circles to enable CNAP. The service typically needs a centralized caller ID database storing the names associated with numbers. When a call is placed, the database is queried to fetch the calling party's name and display it on the recipient's screen.

Servers and software are crucial in managing, storing, and processing the data required for correlating caller names with their phone numbers.

“We are seeing how soon we can get CNAP implemented. The government has also pitched a few names to telecom operators to get the software for implementing CNAP,” a government official said, adding that testing is being done on 4G and 5G networks.

Queries emailed to DoT, Vodafone Idea, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel did not elicit a response till the press time. Dell, HP, Ericsson and Truecaller did not respond to Mint's queries.

Key hurdle to full rollout

In February last year, Trai recommended a trial and assessment of CNAP service in one licensed service area (LSA) with the subscriber base of each telecom service provider. DoT then asked telecom operators to conduct the trials.

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“The constraint in full implementation is showing the calling party names of users of other operators, which cannot be possible without having access to each other’s user databases,” the second executive quoted above said.

The CNAP can be fully implemented only when the government mandates the sharing of databases within operators. Telecom solutions providers are in touch with carriers for the implementation of CNAP, said an executive at an equipment maker.

While conducting trials, the operators also flagged technical issues such as an increase in call set-up time, higher network load, and handset incompatibility.