Mobile Carriers Roll out New Tools in Fight Against Robocalls

Wary of scams and tired of picking up what turn out to be robocalls, consumers are missing important calls due to their reluctance to answer the phone. This impacts businesses as well as consumers since they may be trying to reach a customer with information about a critical transaction.

Mobile carrier T-Mobile says that’s why it is working to develop new solutions that will help consumers stay safer from spam without missing the calls they want. On Jan. 18, the company announced it is partnering with CTIA, the wireless industry association, to develop best practices for new enhanced Caller ID for businesses. CTIA facilitates the branded caller ID (BCI) best practices process and is working with several companies across the wireless industry, T-Mobile reports.

BCI will enable businesses and organizations to deliver outbound calls that are not only verified, but also include a Caller ID display, such as the company’s logo, on supported handsets. It could also enable consumers to see the reason for the call.

“For consumers and businesses that rely on phone calls for critical transactions such as financial services, insurance and healthcare, trusted calling is more important than ever,” T-Mobile said in a press release.

Complementing Existing Solutions 

This new solution will combine authenticate Caller ID, STIR/SHAKEN and Rich Call Data (RCD), complementing them by enabling organizations to better identify themselves and providing the information to help consumers make a more informed choice about whether to answer the call.

STIR/SHAKEN is an industry-standard called ID authentication technology that allows for the authentication and verification of caller ID information for calls carried over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) explains.

These Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (SHAKEN) standards enable carriers to validate a call as they receive it and hand it off to another carrier and ultimately the consumer.

The FCC required providers to implement this in the IP portions of their networks by June 30, 2021.

Achieving High Accuracy in Blocking, Labeling Calls 

AT&T announced soon after adding STIR/SHAKEN to its existing anti-spam efforts that it was blocking or labeling more than 1 billion robocalls per month.

“We are authenticating and verifying hundreds of millions of calls per day, including calls across our own wireless network and calls exchanged with the other two leading U.S. wireless providers,” AT&T said in a press release. “We’re also using data from STIR/SHAKEN to help us achieve high accuracy in our blocking and labeling.”

Similarly, Verizon announced that it had completed its wireless network upgrade to STIR/SHAKEN two years ahead of the FCC’s deadline and had blocked more than 13 billion robocalls.

“Verizon has been driving adoption of STIR/SHAKEN, an industry-wide effort that helps verify that a call is in fact from the number displayed on the Caller ID and not spoofed,” the mobile carrier said in a press release.