On December 4, 2020, the Wireline Competition Bureau (“Bureau” or “WCB”) released a Public Notice seeking comment on requests for extension of the STIR/SHAKEN deadline and on Verizon’s Petition for Declaratory Ruling. As you may recall, the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (“TRACED”) Act and section 64.6301(a)(3) of the Commission’s rules require voice service providers to fully implement the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication framework in the Internet Protocol (“IP”) portions of their networks by June 30, 2021.
The Commission has granted certain categories of voice service providers an extension from this implementation deadline, and established a process for voice service providers to file individual petitions for an extension on the basis of undue hardship. Those portions of a voice service provider’s network that rely on non-IP technology are subject to a continuing extension, but providers must work to develop a non-IP solution or upgrade their networks to support STIR/SHAKEN.
The Bureau seeks comment on four timely-filed extension requests and on a related petition for declaratory ruling filed by Verizon:
- AT&T seeks a one-year extension for “two discrete gaps” in its IP network that it has recently identified as unable to support STIR/SHAKEN.
- Lumen seeks a six-month extension for its entire IP network “to accommodate the potential for specific equipment-related delays.”
- S. Cellular seeks an extension for both its IP and non-IP networks. For its IP networks, U.S. Cellular requests an extension regarding traffic that has not “complete[d] interconnection with other carriers with which [U.S. Cellular] has an SIP interconnection agreement . . . until such time that such interconnection is completed.” For its non-IP networks, U.S. Cellular requests an extension until it can complete migration of non-IP customers to its STIR/SHAKEN-enabled IP network.
- Verizon seeks a declaratory ruling that a “specific and limited” portion of its Plain Old Telephone Service network “falls outside the scope of the TRACED Act’s STIR/SHAKEN implementation mandate.” Verizon alternatively seeks a three-year extension to implement STIR/SHAKEN on that portion of its network
Comments are due by January 4, 2021.
Reply comments are due by January 19, 2021.
Please Contact Us if you have any questions.