TRAI’s caller ID system will make use of customer KYC data with telcos to identify unknown callers
The caller ID system is being positioned as the Indian government’s alternative to Truecaller
However, Truecaller dismissed the notion that TRAI’s caller ID system was a competition
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is set to roll out its mobile phone caller identification system within the next three weeks.
The system would be verified by the know your customer (KYC) details that are submitted to the telecom companies by the customer while getting a SIM card. Therefore, TRAI caller ID will make use of mostly accurate data used by telcos to issue SIM cards.
The caller ID system is positioned as the Indian government’s alternative to the Sweden-based Truecaller. In an HT report, TRAI chairman PD Vaghela was cited as saying that the telecom watchdog has conducted several stakeholder consultations to sort out the issues.
Vaghela added that the new feature should be rolled out in the next two to three weeks.
The government’s caller ID system has been discussed for a while now. In May, the TRAI chairman had said that the telecom watchdog received a reference from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to begin consultations on the matter.
Truecaller dismissed the notion that TRAI’s caller ID system was a competition.
“Based on the information available at present, we do not see that this would be a competitive service comparable to the full range of services and functionality that Truecaller offers to our more than 310 Mn monthly active users,” Truecaller chief executive officer (CEO) Alan Mamedi said in a media statement in May.
Mamedi added that the proposed TRAI development can even be a driving catalyst for Truecaller’s continued growth in India. “During our 13 years, we have seen many players, both private and state-driven, trying to enter this industry, and we are humble in the face of this great challenge,” he added.
Why TRAI Might Gain Over Truecaller In India
However, there is a crucial advantage to TRAI. Truecaller crowdsources customer data, while TRAI will have highly accurate data from telcos to verify customers.
The crowdsourced nature of Truecaller’s data makes it a somewhat unreliable data set as it leaves room for users to edit information. On the other hand, TRAI’s KYC-powered data is a highly accurate data set, leaving no room for any changes.
However, the implementation of the system would be key for TRAI to make the most of this advantage. Truecaller offers several other features while TRAI’s caller ID system looks set to be a basic identification system that would display the name and location of a user.
Though KYC data that TRAI is proposing to use in its caller ID system might make for a privacy issue for women and children, whose personally identifiable information might also be made available via this system.
Caller ID apps like Truecaller are hugely popular in India due to the high volume of spam and harassment calls in the country.
According to a Truecaller report, India was the fourth most-spammed country in the world. In a surprising statistic, over 202 Mn spam calls were made by just one spammer in India in 2021, which translates to more than 664K people. More than 93% of these spam calls were sales calls, Truecaller’s report added.
As a result of the high volume of spam and malicious calls and SMSes, India has emerged as one of the biggest markets for Truecaller. A March 2022 report from the caller ID app showed that Indians made up 70% of its active users.
