Telcos fear revenue loss as volume of flash call surges

New Delhi: Missed calls have long been used informally as a signalling method by users. But their adoption by enterprises as an authentication tool on Android phones has got telcos worried about revenue loss. Some are warning against the prospect of fraud.

The volume of such missed calls, also called flash calls, has surged since mobile phone operators in India hiked international calling and messaging prices by 20% last year. There have been 400 million flash calls in India since then, compared with almost none before the tariff increase, an industry source told ET, adding that one app alone is said to have made 150 million such calls.