The FCC has voted unanimously to shorten the deadline for some smaller voice providers to use the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID regime, meant to weed out unwanted robocalls, but smaller cable operator voice providers want to make sure the FCC isn't casting a too wide net.

The FCC said that some new evidence suggests that a "small subset" of smaller voice service providers were responsible for an "increasing quantity" of illegal robocalls.

The FCC set a June 30, 2021 deadline for most voice service providers, including larger cable operators, to implement STIR/SHAKEN, but gave smaller providers—fewer than 100,000 subs—more time.

Also Read: FCC Fleshes Out STIR/SHAKEN

But in a vote at its Thursday (May 20) public meeting, the commission said it would shorten that by a year (June 2022) for smaller providers "which originate an especially larger amount of traffic."

"We recently discovered that some smaller companies are pumping large volumes of traffic onto our networks and a lot of it looks suspiciously like robocalls," said FCC acting chair Jessica Rosenworcel. "It’s time to change course.  So here we propose to cut back on the extension for smaller providers that are sending these junk calls. Implementing STIR/SHAKEN—and doing it faster as we propose here—will help reduce robocalls over time."

The FCC sought comment on how to best define that subset that poses "a heightened risk of originating an especially large amount of illegal robocall traffic," as well as whether it should do more to improve oversight of the smaller providers it identifies as requiring the shortened deadline.

ACA Connects, which represents smaller providers, said it will keep an eye on the proceeding going forward to make sure the FCC is aiming at the right target.

“ACA Connects represents small voice providers that have an established presence in their communities and take their obligations seriously," said Brian Hurley, ACA Connects VP of regulatory affairs. "We intend to participate in this proceeding to ensure it remains squarely focused on the correct target – the 'subset' of providers responsible for originating large volumes of illegal robocalls – and that it avoids sweeping in ACA Connects members and other legitimate providers that are not the source of this problem.”

Comcast, too, has a message for the "vehicle owner." 

Comcast has announced deployment of STIR/SHAKEN-based robocall protection to its 11 million residential and business landline voice customers. 

When receiving calls, these customers will now be able to see a “V” in their caller ID, verifying that the call is actually coming from the displayed number and not some spammer who is spoofing the ID. 

Comcast reported over 9.6 million Xfinity Voice residential customers at the end of 2020, down about 39,000 year over year, and nearly 1.4 million business voice subscribers, up about 16,000. 

The cable company has been working on STIR/SHAKEN technology for several years and says the time is right to deploy it against the backdrop of an estimated 46 billion robocalls received nationwide just in 2020 alone. In fact, citing YouMail data, Comcast said the average U.S. consumer receives 350 spam calls a year. 

“Comcast engineers helped pioneer STIR/SHAKEN and the company has been a leader in the industry-wide effort to combat fraudulent calls since day one,” said Kelly Barlow, senior VP of connectivity services for Comcast, in a statement. “We’ll continue to enable our customers with the tools to protect themselves and partner within the industry to help rid the nation’s consumers of these dangerous calls for good.”

The FCC has voted on new rules implementing the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication regime meant to weed out unwanted robocalls. At the same time it dropped the item from its Sept. 30 public meeting agenda.

The new rules: "1) require voice service providers to either upgrade their non-IP networks to IP and implement STIR/SHAKEN, or work to develop a non-IP caller ID authentication solution"; 2) "require intermediate providers to implement STIR/SHAKEN so that IP calls retain caller ID authentication throughout the call path"; and 3) "prohibit carriers from adding a line item to the bills of consumers and small businesses for caller ID authentication technology."

Related: FCC Adopts STIR/SHAKEN Regime

STIR/SHAKEN is the default protection against identity spoofing and malicious robocalls by verifying a caller ID before the call gets to the recipient. The regime applies to IP voice service.

The FCC initially voted to allow and encourage carriers to block unverified IDs by default using STIR/SHAKEN, but then mandated it. The service must be free. In addition, Congress voted in December 2019 to mandate the regime, giving carriers 18 months after passage to have it in place--a June 2021 deadline.

ACA Connects said the FCC was definitely right in proposing a one-year extension to smaller operators of its deadline for adopting the STIR/SHAKEN call authentication regime. 

STIR/SHAKEN is the illegal robocall-combating tool ISPs are required to adopt under the TRACED Act. 

Related: FCC Adopts Mandatory STIR/SHAKEN Regime 

In reply comments filed at the FCC, ACA Connects, which represents those smaller operators, said that extending the June 30,2021 deadline until June 2022, as the FCC has proposed, makes sense because smaller operators are depending on third-party vendors for implementation "solutions" that are still being developed. 

Responding to AT&T's opposition to the extension in its comments, ACA Connects pointed out that AT&T itself has conceded implementation can be tough, saying "these are not easy tasks to achieve." ACAC said that "no doubt this observation would apply with even greater force when it comes to small providers operating with limited resources or in-house technical expertise." 

And while some have suggested the FCC could adopt a case-by-case review of extensions, rather than the blanket extension it has proposed, ACAC pushed back.  

"This approach would inundate the Commission with extension requests from a multitude of small providers, many of them presenting evidence of the same or similar implementation burdens," it said. "The costs of hiring outside lawyers and consultants to prepare and submit these requests would consume funds that would be better spent working towards implementation of STIR/SHAKEN." 

Related: House Approves Comprehensive Robocall Bill

ACAC said "small providers as a class face 'undue hardship' sufficient to justify an extension of at least one year." 

The "at least" was a reference to some commenters seeking an even longer extension. ACAC said it was OK with that, too, though it said the FCC should provide plenty of notice if it planned to extend the extension. 

Some commenters said that the exemption could allow smaller IP-based voice providers to continue to originate large volumes of illegal robocalls.  

ACAC countered that while it appreciates the concern, that is already taken care of by the TRACED Act's requirement that during any compliance delay, an operator must adopt a robocall mitigation program. It also urged the FCC to continue to pursue robocall scammers vigorously. "[E]ven if most unlawful robocalls are originated by small providers, it does not follow that most small providers originate large volumes of unlawful robocalls," ACAC said.

ACAC got an assist from NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, which said it supports the extension because they face challenges that make it "difficult, if not impossible," to comply.

NCTA, whose members include all the largest providers, said those had an advantage smaller operators did not (and could be the 800 pound canaries in the mine shaft, as it were). "While the implementation of STIR/SHAKEN requires all voice providers to incur a variety of costs, most large providers already have commenced planning for the necessary investments and should be in a position to sign and receive calls by the deadline," it said. "Smaller providers, on the other hand, generally are not as far along in the planning process, and their decisions will be informed by the initial experience of larger providers." 

The FCC has released its tentative agenda for the March 31 public meeting and it includes proposals to 1) mandate the STIR/SHAKEN default robocall blocking technology, 2) adjust the methodology for significantly viewed station, 3) revising program carriage dispute resolution rules, 4) and adjust FCC rules to "facilitate next generation TV. 

FCC chair Ajit Pai has circulated all those items for commissioner review before the meeting. 

1) The STIR/SHAKEN (formerly the more James Bondlike "SHAKEN/STIR") item is a report and order and further notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would "adopt rules requiring originating and terminating voice service providers to implement the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication framework in the Internet Protocol portions of their networks; and (2) [in the FNPRM] propose additional measures to combat illegal spoofing, including measures to implement portions of the TRACED Act.

The item follows Congress' mandate in the TRACED Act that STIR/SHAKEN be made mandatory, and would set a June 30, 20201 deadline in alignment with the legislation. It would also extend STIR/SHAKEN to intermediate access providers. 

The FCC has already voted unanimously to allow carriers to block robocalls by default via STIR/SHAKEN, but had made it voluntary.  

2) The "Amending Distributed Transmission System Rules to Facilitate Next Generation TV" is an NPRM that seeks comment on whether to modify the Commission’s rules "governing the use of distributed transmission systems by broadcast television stations."  

The item would seek comment on amending the FCC's rules to allow DTS signals, which use multiple transmission sites in a market to boost a station's signal, to extend beyond a station's authorized service area by more than a de minimus amount. The National Association of Broadcasters and America's Public Television Stations petitioned the FCC for the change. 

It would also seek input on the impact of the change on translator and LPTV stations. 

3) "Defining Significantly Viewed Local TV Stations" is an NPRM seeking comment on "whether to update the methodology for determining whether a television broadcast station is 'significantly viewed' in a community outside of its local market. 

The syndicated and network programming on an out-of-market TV station imported into a local market must be deleted per syndicated and network exclusivity rules, unless the FCC determines that out-of-market stations also has significant viewership in that market. 

The item seeks comment on, among other things, whether Nielsen or some other methodology should be used to determine "significantly viewed" status and whether terminology, like "independent station" or partial network station" should be updated given changes in the marketplace. 

4) "Revising Program Carriage Rules and Part 76 Review Procedures" is an FNPRM and NPRM – seeking comment on "whether to modify the Commission’s rules governing the resolution of program carriage disputes between video programming vendors and multichannel video programming distributors." 

The item would seek comment on, again among several other things, whether to modify the time limit requirements for filing program carriage complaints to "clarify that it applies only in circumstances where there is not an existing program carriage contract or contract offer and a defendant MVPD has denied or failed to acknowledge either a request for program carriage or a request to negotiate for program carriage." 

T-Mobile and Comcast have announced a partnership to combat robocalling by using the STIR/SHAKEN protocol to authenticate calls made between their respective networks.

“Robocalls and spam calls are an industry-wide problem, and we’ve got to join forces to keep consumers protected. Today, we’re the first to cross industry lines to do just that,” said T-Mobile CEO John Legere, in a statement.

Well, “first” is debatable. Comcast last month announced that it had jointly and successfully tested a collaborative STIR/SHAKEN effort with AT&T.

Related: Comcast and AT&T Successfully Test Solution to Stop Robocalling

But there seems to be industry-wide consensus among telecom operators that robocalling is a problem for their customers, who last year suffered through 26 billion unwanted calls. In February, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai warned telecom companies that he would step in if they didn’t do something to combat the robocalling issue.

So what is STIR/SHAKEN?

STIR is short for Secure Telephony Identity Revisited. The SHAKEN acronym is a bit more of a reach—it stands for Secure Handling of Asserted (information using) Tokens. The “ken” in token comprises the last part of the acronym.

The protocol seeks to authenticate calls by using digital certificates that determine where the call actually originates from. If a caller is successfully authenticated, T-Mobile will display “Caller Verified” on the receiving user's smart phone. In its press release today, T-Mobile said it can now port this message into the caller ID displays of 10 smart phones, including the full line of Samsung Galaxy devices.

“Fraudulent robocalls hurt everyone, so we want to give consumers more power to protect themselves,” added Eric Schaefer, senior VP and GM of broadband and communications services at Comcast Cable. “Our engineers played a key role in developing this technology for the entire industry, and we are happy to work with T-Mobile to deliver another first in the fight against fraudulent robocalls. In the coming weeks, we’ll be exchanging authenticated calls with more providers across the industry as we come together to tackle this problem.”