Industry Welcomes Draft NOI on Non-IP Caller Authentication

Industry groups welcomed a draft FCC notice of inquiry on the status of caller ID authentication technology for non-IP networks and providers’ progress in transitioning non-IP networks to IP technology (see 2210060062). Commissioners will consider the item Thursday. NTCA wanted additional language that would seek comment on whether the adoption of new rules could further the transition to IP and the feasibility of adopting non-IP authentication standards.

The FCC last sought comments on the issue in a May NPRM, in which the record "reflected interest … from a broad array of stakeholders with divergent views on the best path forward," the draft said (see 2205190023). The item would seek comments on the impact non-IP technology has on addressing illegal robocalls and what the FCC can do to aid the industry's transition to IP technology.

Use of non-IP network technology “remains the most prominent gap in our caller ID authentication scheme,” the draft said. The Traced Act required the commission to address caller ID authentication for non-IP networks and current rules require providers with such technology to either upgrade their networks to IP and implement Stir/Shaken or participate in industry efforts to develop a non-IP system. If adopted, the item would seek comments on caller ID authentication standards established by ATIS for non-IP networks and whether there are additional ways to allow for authentication over non-IP networks.

NTCA met earlier this month with Wireline Bureau staff and aides to all four commissioners in separate meetings to recommend that additional questions be added to the final item. The group backed the draft but sought more focus on “the important interplay between IP interconnection, a broader transition to IP technologies, and call authentication objectives,” per an ex parte filing in docket 17-97.

Small rural providers "route the vast majority of voice traffic through upstream TDM tandem switches" owned by other carriers, NTCA told the FCC. The group proposed including a question about whether the commission could adopt any rules that would “facilitate voice service providers’ migration to the exchange of voice traffic in IP” and “preserve the current apportionment of costs between interconnecting providers.”

One of the concerns for NTCA members is “picking up new transport costs” from upstream providers transitioning away from non-IP or TDM facilities, said Vice President-Federal Regulatory Brian Ford. They can originate traffic in session initiation protocol or IP and authenticate it with Stir/Shaken, Ford said, “but when it hits those TDM tandems, that authentication information is lost.”

The FCC has a “binary choice” it can make to address the issue, Ford said: It can either ensure there's a transition to IP interconnection or require that every provider adopt non-IP authentication standards. NTCA asked the FCC to include a question in the final item on whether stakeholders “dislike” the non-IP standard or if there are “actual technical and feasibility concerns,” he said.

The draft NOI included some issues previously raised by ZipDX in the footnotes, “so I’m happy to see that [the FCC is] formally seeking comments on those,” emailed CEO David Frankel. The draft included a question about whether the commission should require providers to “submit data on the percentage of TDM traffic that they originate, exchange, or terminate” and transmit only signed calls. “I am comfortable with the item being adopted as drafted, and then we’ll see what happens in terms of responses,” Frankel said. An NCTA spokesperson said the group is following the item but isn’t seeking changes from the draft.