The Hindu : `Caller identification can be suppressed'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004

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`Caller identification can be suppressed'

NEW DELHI, MARCH 22. Amid controversy over blocking of caller line identification, the Telecom Regulatory and Development Authority of India today said the identity of the caller could be suppressed for a `good reason' provided the telecom operator knows which phone number was being suppressed.

"Government and TRAI instructions are that caller line identification should not be suppressed, but it can be suppressed for good reasons. The only condition is that the operator should know which CIL is being suppressed,'' the TRAI Chairman, Pradip Baijal, told reporters here on the sidelines of a seminar — Challenges and opportunities for managing liberalisation in India — organised by the CII and the London School of Economics.

Mr. Baijal's comments on CLI come in the backdrop of cellular subscribers getting calls with `private numbers' written on their handsets as part of campaign by various political parties.

Asked if the Government regulation did not allow CLI to be blocked in case of bulk calls, telemarketing and call centres, Mr. Baijal said, "there is no such regulation.''

"Regulation about CLI is issued by the Government and it is a security matter that CLI should not be suppressed. But it can be suppressed for a good reason,'' he clarified.

Replying to a query on the stand of the Government on the issue, the Minister for Communications and IT, Arun Shourie, said, "I have asked telecom secretary to find out...'' "We have to see what the rules say,'' he pointed out.

PTI

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