Jio, Airtel, Vi plan roll out of built-in caller ID to curb spam calls

Telecom operators like Jio, Airtel, and Vi have engaged vendors for a caller ID service on all smartphone screens without requiring any third-party app like Truecaller

Get ready to say goodbye to anonymous calls. Soon, your phone could display the name of any incoming caller without needing to download a third-party app like Truecaller.

 

In a significant technological advancement, India’s leading telecom operators—Vodafone Idea Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd—are collaborating with global companies such as HP, Dell, Ericsson, and Nokia to develop the servers and software required to roll out this feature.

 

According to reports, these telecom companies have ordered the necessary equipment to implement Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) Trials have already been conducted in select circles, and the service will be introduced in stages once the technology stabilises.

 

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommended the implementation of CNAP for all smartphones in February 2024 and urged the government to mandate telecom operators to adopt the service. The aim is to reduce customer harassment from unknown or spam callers. In January 2025, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) instructed telecom operators to implement the CNAP service on mobile phones at the earliert. The plan is to make name display mandatory for incoming calls, enabling recipients to identify callers and curb spam and scam calls. 

 

However, telecom operators have indicated that for feature phone and 2G users, the service won’t be feasible due to technological limitations.

 

What is CNAP and what will happen once it is rolled out?

 

Caller Name Presentation (CNAP) is a service similar to Truecaller that will display the caller’s name. Once the CNAP service is available on mobile phones, as recommended by Trai, it will initially display only the callers’ names associated with a telecom operator. For example, if an Airtel subscriber calls another Airtel user, the caller’s name will be displayed. This will not happen if the same subscriber calls a Jio or Vodafone Idea user, at least until the government allows sharing customer data between operators.

 

The feature typically requires a centralised caller ID database storing the names associated with numbers. When a call is initiated, the system queries the database to retrieve the caller’s name and displays it on the recipient’s screen. Telecom operators will display the caller’s name using the details provided in the Customer Application Form (CAF), which each user submits when applying for a phone connection.

 

Arvind Khurana, regional vice president and country head of cloud and network services at Nokia India, told Mint, “Nokia is already actively involved in implementing calling name presentation solutions for telecom networks in India, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and enhancing the mobile user experience.” 

 

According to the ‘Sanchar Saathi’ portal, launched in May 2023 by the DoT, more than 256,000 complaints have been made so far.

 

Currently, users are required to install a third-party app like Truecaller to identify anonymous callers.