Industry association COAI has argued that the implementation of Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) for telecom operators should remain optional, rather than mandatory, as the association shared technical, privacy and cost concerns with regulator TRAI to make its point .
The submissions were made as part of a consultation process initiated by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the need to introduce the nickname presentation (CNAP) Supplementary service in telecommunications networks.
Simply put, CNAP is an additional service that allows the caller’s name to flash up on the phone screen when someone calls.
COAI, whose members are Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone ideasaid: “CNAP should not be mandatory and should be optional for telecom operators”.
“The implementation of CNAP should be left to the TSPs and they may consider implementing it if they keep the market dynamics/business case in mind,” said the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI).
In his argument, COAI pointed out that not all mobile phones are able to support such functionalities. It also raised concerns about the privacy and confidentiality of the country’s subscriber information.
Given that handset makers and OS providers have control over the data received through the CNAP facility, this could result in a breach of subscriber privacy as handset makers and OS providers would aggregate subscriber data country-wide, COAI warned.
“This would be the greatest concern in terms of privacy and confidentiality of subscriber information across the country, which would be tantamount to building with third parties a database of names and mobile numbers such as exists in the Aadhaar database,” COAI said.
The association wanted to know if there were any studies on the benefits of such a system.
It said that before implementing CNAP, a detailed cost-benefit analysis should be carried out “if its implementation of CNAP in India is to be considered at all”.
TRAI must conduct a regulatory impact assessment before issuing a recommendation, COAI said.
Noting the technical complexities involved in implementing CNAP, the industry association also said it was extremely important that the agency shared the draft recommendation with industry for comments and input “prior to the finalization of the same.”
While subscribers can benefit from such a service, there are also several challenges to its implementation in India, according to the industry.
In his submission to TRAI’s consultation paper, trust jio Voice tag display should not be a mandatory service given the limited availability of CNAP-enabled devices in India.
“…However, in a country where over 375 million users (over 350 million mobile non-broadband users and over 25 million fixed line users) are unlikely to own a CNAP-enabled device, in a country where over 375 million Users (over 350 million non-broadband mobile users and over 25 million fixed-line users) are unlikely to own a CNAP-enabled device, a good argument for an additional VAS service In addition to a significant portion of wireless broadband users who may also not own CNAP-enabled devices , it is safe to say that this should not be a mandatory service,” said Jio.
Jio also explained that there will be many technical issues such as increased signal load and potential impact on latency and connectivity issues, adding, “Therefore, a cautious approach is recommended.” service on any device,” said Jio.
Given customer privacy concerns, the setup shouldn’t be mandatory, and if implemented voluntarily by telecom companies, it should be based on opt-in consent, Jio said.
Displaying one’s name at the time of the call can lead to various social and criminal problems.
“As such, it is imperative that the customer’s consent is obtained prior to activating the CNAP service on his/her device,” Jio said.
Jio said it is expected that mandatory CNAP activation will not stand up to legal scrutiny.
“In addition, if a large proportion of telecom subscribers, i.e. 2G-3G feature phone users, 4G feature phone users, smartphones not activated with CNAP, smartphones that need a major update for CNAP, landline users, etc., use this service anyway can’t use, then mandatory activation is a moot point and should be avoided,” said Jio.
