Telcos begin pilot runs of 'calling name presentation' feature in one circle

New Delhi | Telecom operators have started pilot runs of Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) in one circle that allows users to see a caller's name in incoming calls, and the telecom department expects all-India rollout of the feature by March 31, 2026.

DoT sources said Vodafone Idea has already started the CNAP pilot in Haryana. Jio, they noted, will be running the pilot in Haryana for calls anywhere in the country.

Sources said the telecom operators have begun the pilots in one circle and that DoT will be pushing for its full scale implementation across India at the earliest.

The all-India rollout of the CNAP feature is expected by March 31, 2026, the sources added.

Meanwhile, the telecom regulator Trai has agreed with the Department of Telecom to enable, by default, the display of the original name of the caller as per the KYC-based identity used for connection to the called party.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in its recommendation to the DoT on 'Introduction of Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) in Telecommunication Networks' back in February 2024, had suggested to activate the service only upon the request of subscribers to whom call is made.

The DoT, however, in its reference back to Trai had sought modification in the recommendation, saying that CNAP service shall be available by default to called party and if any subscriber (called party) does not require it then he/she may request to disable it as per procedure.

Trai "noted" DoT's view without countering it.

The exercise to start CNAP service across the globe started to prevent subscribers from fraud calls and check cyber crime activities like digital arrest, financial frauds, etc.

While such services are available from third-party apps even today, they are mostly crowd-sourced and at times inaccurate; CNAP is backed by verified telecom KYC data.