OpenCloud claims this issue is the need for mobile operators to respond quickly to the needs of end users and provide a service that consumers actually want, that is easy to use.
By simply sending a text, end users can have their details removed from the Mobile Phone Directory, but this is the thin end of the wedge, said OpenCloud.
Said Jonathan Bell, VP product marketing at OpenCloud: “Mobiles are very personal devices, so the idea of receiving calls from unknown people or organisations is unacceptable. It evokes memories of scamming by people trawling through the Phone Book in the days before the internet and mobiles were around.”
Anonymous call screening is a service that is available now for all mobile phone users; it protects them from automated spamming, but at the same time allows them to be fully contactable for person to person communications, with the facility of being able to screen incoming calls.
Callers whose numbers are withheld are filtered to voicemail, where they are asked to leave a message detailing who they are. This voicemail is forwarded to the called party and they can then decide whether to accept or reject the call.
Perhaps more practical, said OpenCloud, would be for mobile operators to give users the option of partial ex-directory. Mobile users could appear ex-directory for online searches, but not where callers request a number by calling 118 800.
This has the dual benefit of protecting user privacy needs, as well as generating additional messaging traffic and call completions for operators who are under increasing pressure to maximise all possible revenue streams.
Bell added: “To make our mobiles completely ex-directory is not the answer. We live in an increasingly connected world, but also want control over who can contact us, when and how. Operators are increasingly required to provide new services for the end user that make our lives easier, and anonymous call screening is one such way.”