Nine telecoms asked the FCC for an exception to the June 30 deadline for small carriers to implement the STIR/SHAKEN call authentication software in their voice networks. The petitioners sought either a 14-day or 30-day waiver, saying technical difficulties prevented them from meeting the deadline.
The Commission denied the requests, saying the companies failed to show why they need another extension. It said delaying implementation “unavoidably undermines” the success of the anti-robocall authentication technology and is not in the public interest.
The agency said major carriers had to comply by June 30, 2021. At first, small carriers received an extension to June 30, 2023. The FCC said small carriers “faced high implementation costs relative to the small percentage of total voice subscribers they serve and confront unique equipment availability issues,” and concluded that these factors warrant a blanket extension of two years.
But last year, the agency shortened the deadline after finding new evidence that indicated “a disproportionately high and increasing share of illegal robocalls originated from non-facilities-based small voice service providers.” It decided that a one-year, rather than a two-year extension was enough, “given the comparatively low implementation burden faced by non-facilities-based providers versus the increased likelihood that they acted as the source of illegal robocalls.”
The companies that asked for the extension were: WWT Inc Worldwide Telecommunications, Miron Enterprises, Vumber, Avaya Cloud, Yardi Kube, DigitalPath, KDDI America, Hypercore Networks, and cLear Digital Networks, Inc. They told the Commission they needed more time to address upgrade difficulties encountered for software and hardware. They also filed robocall mitigation plans in the database that “they claim are effective,” notes the agency. The telecoms said the exception is in the public interest rather than a “subpar implementation” from rushing to meet the deadline.
The Commission didn’t think any of these reasons justified more time, given the two years the companies had to implement the upgrades. “[N]othing in their petitions persuades us that was an insufficient amount of time for them to complete the tasks they state are still outstanding,” said Wireline Competition Bureau Chief Trent Harkrader in the decision.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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