Bharti Airtel, one of India’s leading telecom providers, has rolled out an innovative solution called Business Name Display (BND) under its Airtel Business division. This first-of-its-kind feature aims to help businesses build trust and improve customer interaction by displaying the company’s name on the recipient's phone during outgoing calls.
Airtel's new solution is a direct response to the increasing number of customer complaints around spam calls. Previously, Airtel had launched India’s first spam-fighting telecom network, supported by a national awareness campaign urging users to ignore calls from unknown or suspicious numbers.
While this campaign helped reduce spam call engagement, it inadvertently caused problems for legitimate businesses, including banks, delivery partners, hospitals, and logistics providers. Their calls often got flagged as spam, leading to customers missing important communication like food deliveries, courier updates, and medical reminders.
The Business Name Display (BND) service enables enterprises to showcase their verified brand name on a customer's phone screen when making an outgoing call. This simple but powerful feature helps users immediately recognize the caller, boosting trust and ensuring important business calls are not ignored or marked as spam.
The Business Name Display service provides several benefits for enterprises:
Verified Caller Identification: Helps businesses distinguish themselves from unknown or spam calls by displaying their brand name.
Enhanced Customer Trust: Customers are more likely to engage when they see a familiar, verified brand calling.
Improved Answer Rates: Recognized calls have a higher chance of being answered, reducing drop-offs in communication.
Better User Experience: Offering context at the start of the call improves the overall customer experience and response rate.
Before going public, Airtel tested the service with over 250 enterprises across multiple industries such as banking, retail, logistics, food delivery, and mobility services. In just the last 30 days, these businesses collectively made 12.8 million calls using 1.5 million unique phone numbers, showcasing the solution’s scalability and impact.
The pilot saw a notable improvement in customer response rates, reaffirming that customers are more inclined to answer when they can recognize the caller.
Airtel has ensured a seamless onboarding experience for companies. Businesses interested in activating the BND service can do so through the Airtel Business self-service portal, where they can register and configure their brand name, contact numbers, and other relevant details.
This hassle-free setup process allows companies to go live with the solution quickly, helping them enhance their customer communication strategy with minimal delay.
Airtel's Business Name Display stands out as a pioneering innovation in enterprise telecom services in India. It bridges the growing trust gap between consumers and businesses in an era dominated by spam calls and robocalls.
This new tool empowers organizations to restore customer confidence in voice-based communication and is expected to become an industry benchmark in the coming months.