The one-year-old cold war between Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and technology major Apple is showing signs of heating up at the cost of mobile users.

According to latest development, users of iPhone may soon find their mobile connections deactivated, unless the tech giant give in to the regulatory authority’s demands.

Trai's recent regulations, i.e. Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation is aimed at curbing commercial calls and messages.

The regulation allows the customer to report directly to the authority about these calls and messages.

It also asks telephone operators to derecognise networks and devices that do not support the service of the Trai app that is built for this reporting.

While Google’s Android has willingly started supporting the app, i.e. DND 2.0 Apple’s iOS has declined to do so.

According to Apple, this is due to the fact that it doesn’t allow third party apps to access call and message details of users.

Instead, it has reportedly come up with its own app in the new iOS 12 to allow users to report calls and messages. But the government is unlikely to accept this.

While the deadlock between the Trai and Apple has been there for a while, the new regulation will take it to the next level.

With service providers asked to derecognise networks not towing in to government lines, soon service providers could very well deactivate the numbers itself.

While Apple could well take Trai to the court to contest the decision, the idea of making a powerful government body angry may not be the best option for the telecom giant still struggling to get a firm foothold in the country.

First Published:Jul 23, 2018 8:51 PM IST