AT&T Plans to Begin Shaken/Stir Use in 2019; Sprint Supportive but Cites Hurdles, Limits

AT&T and Sprint backed Shaken/Stir call authentication standards intended to combat spoofed robocalling, but Sprint said there are deployment hurdles and industry limitations. AT&T plans to implement Secure Handling of Asserted Information using toKENs/Secure Telephony Identity Revisited protocols and procedures for authenticating calls "in parallel" with a one-year industry timeline for setting up a related governance structure, said a filing Wednesday on a discussion with Chief Technology Officer Eric Burger and other staffers, in docket 17-59. "AT&T plans to conduct further testing in 2018 and begin a general rollout in 2019." While supporting Shaken/Stir, Sprint "cautioned that there are logistical obstacles to immediate deployment and that even when it is deployed, it will not be an immediate silver bullet that will eliminate illegal robocalls." Carriers adopting Shaken/Stir "need support from network suppliers and testing tools," said a filing on a meeting with Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith, Burger and others. "Merely signing calls will not combat robocalls unless intermediate carriers, terminating carriers, and equipment manufacturers are all supporting the protocols and providing information to analytics companies for ultimate use by the recipient of the call." Sprint cited "advances that analytics companies have made in identifying robocalls and displaying that information to customers so they can make informed decisions about whether to answer a call, block it, or send to voicemail." FCC Chairman Ajit Pai May 14 accepted the VoIP-oriented call authentication recommendations of the industry-dominated North American Numbering Council for creating a Shaken/Stir framework within a year, with carriers encouraged but not required to implement the standards in the same time (see 1805140028 and 1805030014).