The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) move to make it mandatory for service providers to flash the caller’s name on the phone screen when users receive calls will pose a risk to privacy of citizens, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said on Thursday.

The association represents over 400 firms in the digital services industry. According to IAMAI, the mandatory requirement will endanger individuals who do not want to be identified to the caller and may expose people belonging to vulnerable populations to harassment.

“The implementation of CNAP (calling name presentation) for a massive quantum of users would require telecom providers to put in place a secure, synchronised and robust system capable of supporting billions of calls daily,” IAMAI said. “This will require a significant overhaul of the current telecom infrastructure, resulting in carriers incurring huge costs,” it added.

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In November last year, Trai released a consultation paper to put in place a mechanism to display the name of the caller on mobile phones. It came with regard to reference from the department of telecommunications (DoT) to empower telephone consumers in taking informed decisions while receiving calls, and this mechanism of CNAP will reduce the harassment of consumers from unknown or spam callers.

“While we appreciate Trai’s intent to eradicate spam calls, it is unlikely that the mandatory implementation of CNAP will be successful in doing so. In light of these issues, IAMAI has recommended that Trai consider providing citizens with an ‘opt-in’ approach as an alternative,” it said.

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“Giving citizens a choice to voluntarily opt in and out of CNAP services will ensure that citizens’ choices and preferences are put at the forefront while ensuring that their right to privacy is protected,” it added.

Last month, the telecom operators also opposed Trai’s mandatory caller identification proposal, citing reasons like technical difficulties, lack of handset support, and privacy issues.

In its comments, Reliance Jio said the feature would increase the load on the networks and may affect interconnection.