Big Voice Providers' Top Executives Highlight Call Authentication Plans Amid Uncertainty
Major voice service providers gave varying call-authentication implementation plans, noting complexities of instituting an industry framework of protocol standards and network solutions in collaboration among carriers. They responded to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's demand industry adopt a "robust" system to combat illegal caller ID spoofing and launch it by 2019. Filings posted through Tuesday in docket 17-97. Pai asked seven providers that apparently hadn't established "concrete plans" for implementing Shaken/Stir (Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs/Secure Telephony Identity Revisited) to do so, and sought timelines from seven with plans (see 1811050055).
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Providers Pai identified without concrete plans vowed generally to begin adopting Shaken/Stir by next year, with uncertainties. Sprint is committed to deploying, noting "industry wide steps that must be taken before," said Chief Technology Officer John Saw. It plans to test Shaken "signing and verification with large VoIP peering partners in the 2nd half of 2019 with the implementation of VoLTE" on its network. U.S. Cellular is "on pace to implement SHAKEN/STIR sometime in the second half of 2019," needing to establish Session Initiation Protocol signaling with all other carriers also implementing the framework, CTO Michael Irizarry said.
Charter Communications expects "to begin signing calls on our network in 2019, provided that adequate third-party software solutions are available and scalable," said CEO Tom Rutledge. Vonage expects "to begin authenticating calls originating on our network prior to the end of 2019" and is developing "internal solutions" to allow it as a terminating carrier "to verify certificates once [a] certificate repository is in place."
CenturyLink expects its network "will be ready to transit SHAKEN messages as early as" this year and "to be able to sign calls originating on the IP portions of our voice network by the end of 2019," CTO Andrew Dugan said. Frontier Communications CEO Daniel McCarthy anticipates "it can fully integrate SHAKEN/STIR for IP calls originating on its network by this time next year." TDS is engaged in vendor discussions and "committed to testing a SHAKEN/STIR solution in our network" in 2019, it said: "We will analyze the information accordingly and make necessary implementation plans."
Providers Pai said had plans offered more details. AT&T provided a timeline of 16 implementation actions to initiate Shaken/Stir internally and with some other carriers over the next year, with others to be added after that "as they become ready." But "the aggressive timetable ... could encounter delays" due to factors beyond AT&T's control, it said. Verizon expects "a large portion, and possibly a substantial majority, of the voice minutes that Verizon customers send and receive will be 'signed' under the STIR/SHAKEN" standard in 2019. Parts of Verizon's VoLTE platform are ready. T-Mobile can peer with others that adopted the protocol (see 1811190050).
Comcast Cable expects "to have implemented the capability to sign calls originating from our residential voice customers for our entire residential subscriber base" by year-end, "absent any unexpected difficulties." The signing capability "is being implemented in stages, with the first set of 500,000 residential subscriber lines receiving this capability last week," said President-Technology and Product Tony Werner. Cox Communications "is committed to implementing a robust call authentication framework in 2019," citing four stages through Q3. If the FCC authorizes blocking unsigned calls and provides a carrier safe harbor, "the need to present customers with call status information may be mitigated," Cox said.
Google's "working toward the goal of implementing SHAKEN/STIR once the standards are finalized and approved." It plans "to provide consumers with clear information to empower them to identify unsigned and improperly signed calls" -- "very similar to what we are already providing" free. Bandwidth "remains confident it will be able to adopt SHAKEN/STIR standards, protocols, and processes to enable call attestation, presentation and acceptance with other carriers who are similarly prepared to do so at points in time during 2019," said CEO David Morken, noting even widespread implementation "will not be an immediate panacea."