An industry-first contribution toward addressing illegal robocalling in TDM networks
WASHINGTON, DC – ATIS today announced a technical report and two standards addressing the challenges of call authentication for calls that traverse TDM networks. The technical report provides a framework to evaluate non-IP call authentication and discusses approaches to accommodate the limitations of call authentication for non-IP systems. These approaches are provided through new standards that rely on either underlying TDM capabilities or alternate IP capabilities. While these standards do not cover all non-IP networks or all service scenarios and additional standards work is required, they are a critical step toward mitigating illegal robocalling for consumers whose calls travel over TDM networks.
As of June 30, 2021, the FCC required providers of voice services to implement the STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework, created by ATIS and the SIP Forum, in their internet protocol networks. Providers are also required to take reasonable measures to implement an effective call authentication framework in the provider’s non-internet protocol (i.e., TDM) networks. One of the new ATIS standards makes an important contribution toward addressing this goal and the other presents an approach to addressing situations where there is TDM in the middle of a call path between IP end points.
“ATIS has recognized expertise developing TDM network standards in addition to being instrumental in developing SHAKEN,” said ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller. “As a result, ATIS is uniquely positioned to extend call authentication to TDM networks in a way that ensures SHAKEN compatibility. Looking ahead, the industry work to address the challenges of call authentication for both IP and non-IP networks will continue through ATIS technical committees and the ATIS/SIP Forum Joint IP-NNI Task Force.”
Developed by ATIS’ Non-IP Call Authentication Task Force, the new report and standards are: Technical Report on Alternatives for Caller Authentication for Non-IP Traffic, Extending STIR/SHAKEN Over TDM, and Signature-Based Handling of Asserted Information Using Tokens (SHAKEN): Out-of-Band PASSporT Transmission Involving TDM Networks. All are available at no cost.
