The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has devised a new rule for the international calls received by Indian consumers. The telecom department has amended the clause in the unified license for TSPs (telecom service providers), which states that ILDOs (International Long-Distance Operators) must prevent international calls with no or incorrect number identification (CLI) from reaching their customer.
This move increases the safety of Indian consumers who could potentially be scammed by international callers without proper Caller ID (CLI). The telcos must stop such calls at the server level so that they never reach the customer. The rule will come into effect on August 1, 2022.
To identify an incorrect CLI, Point has requested reference to the ITU-T recommendations on the E.164 numbering scheme. What has happened so far?
Rules of the existing clause
The existing clause allowed the ILD operator to assign a two-digit carrier identifier followed by the country code from which the call was made.
For example, every time you would have received an international call, there should be an international country code on the display.
The amended clause was announced by the DoT on July 6, 2022 on its website and as noted above, it will come into effect on August 8, 2022. The affected TSPs therefore have some time to implement this rule in their system. It will certainly help make the mobile calling experience more secure for Indian consumers in general.
The DoT and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) take care of the rights of the consumers and make sure they are not cheated in any way. The telcos should ideally have no issues with this step, and it should be implemented quite smoothly.
