T-Mobile US and Comcast deployed a new system to protect customers from nuisance calls, in what they claimed is the first application of caller verification across networks.
The pair said the system operates on SHAKEN/STIR, a pair of spam prevention frameworks through which operators can validate calls before sending them along to a consumer’s device. T-Mobile customers gain access immediately, meaning calls from Comcast users will be verified, with availability for the latter’s Xfinity Voice home subscribers “coming later this year”.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere talked up the collaboration in a statement, noting the operator was the “first to cross industry lines” in the battle against unwanted calls.
In November 2018, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) pressed operators to rapidly adopt the SHAKEN/STIR standards to combat a growing number of nuisance calls in the country. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai warned operators they would face regulatory action if they failed to deploy the technology by the end of 2019.
Eric Schaefer, SVP and GM of Broadband and Communications Services at Comcast Cable, said “fraudulent robocalls hurt everyone,” adding the company will “be exchanging authenticated calls with more providers across the industry as we come together to tackle this problem” in the coming weeks.
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