The FCC is taking action to ensure that carriers meet their commitments and obligations to implement STIR/SHAKEN standards (call authentication software) to combat spoofed robocall scams. Specifically, voice service providers Bandwidth and Vonage lost a partial exemption from STIR/SHAKEN and have been referred to the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau for further investigation.
“The FCC is keeping close watch as phone companies implement STIR/SHAKEN – a critical tool to help robocall blocking and consumer information,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “We will hold companies accountable if they fail to meet their commitments to protect consumers from robocalls.”
Large providers were required to implement STIR/SHAKEN throughout the IP portions of their networks by June 30, 2021. STIR/SHAKEN standards provide a common information sharing language between networks to verify caller ID information which can be used by robocall blocking tools, FCC investigators, and consumers trying to judge if an incoming call is legitimate or not.
Under a Congressional directive, carriers that committed to and met early implementation goals in December 2020 were granted a level of flexibility while still requiring them to fully implement STIR/SHAKEN by June 30, 2021. While most carriers who qualified for this exemption maintain that status given their full implementation of STIR/SHAKEN by the deadline, the Order released Thursday by the Wireline Competition Bureau details the rationale for removing Bandwidth and Vonage from this group. That’s why the companies lost their exemption and have been referred to the Enforcement Bureau.
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