Trai weighs legal action against Apple

New Delhi: India’s telecom regulator is considering taking legal action against Apple for a delay in taking steps to support the authority’s app and enable iPhone users to flag unsolicited calls and messages, deepening a spat between both sides.

“We will consider taking legal action,” RS Sharma, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, told reporters Thursday. He was responding to a question on the regulator’s next move since the Cupertino-based smartphone maker was yet to provide a solution to allow the DND, or Do-Not-Disturb, app to access call and message logs on iPhones.

Apple did not comment on the matter.

Back in November, the iPhone maker had agreed to provide a framework on its iOS operating system to support the regulator’s mobile app, which can report spam calls and messages on iPhones, two years after the two sides started talks. While Apple has said the app would go against the company’s privacy policies, the regulator has argued that the issue was never about privacy but about “consumer protection and the rights of the consumer on their own data.”

Trai added that Google’s operating system Android enables the DND app to access call logs and messages for reporting spam. Trai even issued a consultation paper on privacy, ownership and security of data on telecom networks last year on the issue of custody of customer data.

Media reports said that after signs of a thaw in November, the two sides haven’t met to sort out the issue. The regulator said earlier in the year that the smartphone maker hasn’t even provided basic clarifications.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India