Trai to moot mechanism for KYC-based caller name display, says official

Telecom regulator Trai will soon start consultation on framing a mechanism for caller's KYC-based name to flash on phone screens when someone calls, PTI reported citing a top official.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has referred the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to initiate consultations on the matter.

Trai Chairman PD Vaghela stated that consultations on this will commence in a few months, said PTI.

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

According to PTI, Trai had already been thinking on similar lines, but now that the telecom department has given their approval, work on this will begin soon.

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

The move is important 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 crowdsourcing data to identify callers, said PTI.

According to sources, once the framework for a new KYC-based procedure is established, identity verification will become more clear and more legally tenable. It will also have a ripple effect, leading to a clean-up of data on crowdsourcing apps as there will be KYC linkages.

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

Trai has also used blockchain technology to combat the problem of unsolicited commercial communication (UCC), or spam calls and messages.

(With the inputs of PTI)