The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is a bipartisan federal agency with a dual mission to protect

consumers and promote competition. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates interstate

and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 states. The

District of Columbia and US territories regularly cite “unwanted and illegal robocalls" as their top complaint

category. The FTC got more than 1.9 million complaints filed in the first five months of 2017 and around

5.3 million in 2016. The FCC has stated that it gets more than 200,000 complaints about unwanted

telemarketing calls each year. The consumers are increasingly the targets of unsolicited and often

fraudulent robocalls, which are enabled by caller ID spoofing. Unfortunately, many robocalls originate

To address unwanted and illegal robocalls, ATIS (Alliance for Telecommunications and Industry Solution)

and the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) Forum worked together to develop standards that verify and

authenticate caller identification for calls carried over an Internet Protocol (IP) network using the Session

Initiation Protocol (SIP). The ATIS and SIP Forum work involves a multi-phased approach to solve the

issue of caller identification, using a digital certificate to verify, authenticate caller identification for calls

carried over an Internet Protocol (IP) network, called the STIR/SHAKEN Framework.

In India, the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has decided to address the unwanted

commercial communication to consumers using the Distributed Ledger Technology. As per TRAI, 2

million complaints were filed till 2018, even after disconnection of 1.4 million numbers and blacklisting of

STIR is the framework that guarantees no spoofing of a telephone number along the way. This

electronically validates phone calls as they make transfer through the many networks needed to complete

the call. This allows a telecom firm to verify that an incoming call is coming from a listed source.

STIR defines a digital signature to verify the calling number, and specifies how it will be transported in

SIP." STIR's framework includes a certificate model to create credentials based on an X.509 credential

system. These credentials are then used by authentication services to confirm the authenticity of SIP

SHAKEN is a framework for managing the deployment of Secure Telephone Identity (STI) technologies

to provide end-to-end cryptographic authentication, verification of the telephone identity, and other

information in an Internet Protocol (IP)-based service provider voice network.

It is designed to use PASSporT [Personal Assertion Token] as a method of asserting the caller's

telephone identity along with the date and destination telephone numbers to avoid replay attacks using

valid identity header fields. In addition to the PASSporT claims, "attest the identity being asserted" and

"originating id," SHAKEN provides :

Together STIR/SHAKEN creates the framework to ensure every Internet Protocol-based call has a

certificate of authenticity attached to it- a digital signature that allows service providers to verify caller ID

to mitigate unwanted robocalls and prevents bad actors from using Caller ID spoofing.

originating service provider contacts the authentication service

to get a private key using which

it signs the call.

or if some problem has occurred (e.g., the

call did not match asserted caller's identity, it has an expired certificate, information was in

improper format) is then sent to the terminating service provider.

UCC or spam calls have become a major nuisance to telecom subscribers in India, and the Telecom

Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had been working with stakeholders to curb this menace. In July

2018, TRAI had mandated all telcos in India to use Distributed Ledger Technology to resolve this.

Tech Mahindra developed a DLT based solution to help telcos address the regulatory and compliance

requirements, following TRAI recommendations. With our expertise in Blockchain & telecom experience,

we designed DLT solution that comprises of various levers, block studio, block engage, block talks, block

allowing faster automatic resolution of issues, minimize disputes and effective complaint

redressal in time bound manner

calls and text messages from registered Tele-marketers

their spend and enhancing their business opportunities

list of the telephone number(s) provided by the sender, to whom it wishes to send commercial

communication with the list of the telephone number(s) in DL-Preference and DL-Consent to check

whether commercial communication(s) can be sent to the Recipient as per his registered preference(s)

or as per consent.

The STIR/SHAKEN provides the framework that allows telecom service providers to verify caller ID to

mitigate unwanted robocalls and prevents bad actors from using Caller ID spoofing. The STIR-SHAKEN

framework, coupled with DLT UCC solution, will ensure the consumer's preferences are honored and

only the relevant communication, text or calls, reach the consumer. DLT UCC Solution will maintain an

immutable trace of end to end activities of commercial communication and ensure technology-driven

compliance to prevent unwanted calls.

DLT based combined solution will help streamline the process for commercial communication and bring-

in better governance. Key benefits include:

the end consumer will lead to enhanced consumer satisfaction

capabilities.

Entities/Service Provider will include a token and list of virtual numbers. Virtual numbers will be

a unique identifier for each consumer eligible to receive commercial communication, thereby

preserving the privacy of the consumer's preference.

dialer to make the calls.