iconectiv Issues Statement Regarding Industry-Wide Initiative to Stop Illegal Robocalls

5 Jun 2019

BRIDGEWATER, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--iconectiv issues the following statement regarding the company’s recent appointment as U.S. Policy Administrator for SHAKEN – the FCC-endorsed, industry-wide initiative to stop illegal robocalls:

iconectiv is pleased to be part of the industry-wide solution that will help mitigate illegal robocalls and give people confidence to actually answer a phone call again.

Currently, 76% of calls are left unanswered when the call comes from an unidentified or unfamiliar number, which means that we are no longer answering many of the calls we want from schools, doctors, business associates and others because we fear that it’s a fake call. If they leave a message, we will return the call. This has become the “new normal,” which is fraught with inefficiencies and frustration for consumers and businesses and is compromising the way we communicate.

The situation was exasperated with the many advances in VoIP* technology, which now allow a massive number of phone calls to be initiated very cheaply and where the calling party can select what appears on the caller ID. These tactics resulted in the exponential growth of illegal spam and scam calls, which reached 85B globally in 2018 – a 325% jump from 2017.

The SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) framework is an industry initiative that will help reduce illegal robocalls and ensure that consumers have the information they need to make an informed decision whether to answer a call.

“This is a critical building block in keeping the integrity of the phone number and we are energized to be part of this collaborative initiative that puts the value of phone calls back in the hands of Americans,” said Richard Jacowleff, President and CEO, iconectiv. “With this FCC-endorsed, industry-led initiative, service providers will be able to more readily confirm legitimate calls and trace and block illegitimate ones so that consumers can, once again, enjoy answering calls with confidence.”

“Illegal robocalls plague countries the world over and numerous eyes are on the U.S. as a first mover,” Jacowleff added. “We look forward to being part of the team that is demonstrating the effectiveness of this solution so that other nations can bring similar relief to their citizens.”

More information can be found here.

* VoIP relies on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), one of the most common protocols used in VoIP technology.

About iconectiv

At iconectiv, we envision a world without boundaries, where the ability to access and exchange information is simple, secure and seamless. As the authoritative partner of the communications industry for more than 30 years, our market-leading solutions enable the interconnection of networks, devices and applications for more than two billion people every day. We have intimate knowledge of the intricacies and complexities involved in creating, operating and securing the communications infrastructure for service providers, regulators, enterprises, aggregators and content providers. Our 5,000+ global clients rely on us for network and operations management, numbering, registry and fraud prevention solutions. We are proud to be enabling the world of tomorrow by making new connections today. A US-based company, Telcordia Technologies, does business as iconectiv. For more information, visit www.iconectiv.com.