T-Mobile partners with CTIA to protect consumers from scammers and unwanted robocalls

T-Mobile announced it is partnering with CTIA to develop best practices for new enhanced Caller ID for businesses.

With this new branded caller ID (BCI) solution, businesses and organizations will be able to deliver verified calls that include an easily recognizable Caller ID display — often the organization’s logo — on supported handsets. Those called by a business using BCI could even see the reason for the call, such as billing issues or delivery scheduling. Consumers can then make informed choices about whether to answer calls — staying safer from spam and scammers while not missing calls they want.

Recent T-Mobile data shows that in 2021 scammers often posed as businesses including vehicle warranty providers (51%), wireless providers (9%), car insurance companies (6%) and package delivery companies (4%) among others.

At the same time, 78% of consumers surveyed say they have missed an important call in the past month because they didn’t recognize the caller. For consumers and businesses that rely on phone calls for critical transactions such as financial services, insurance and healthcare, trusted calling is more important than ever.

Powered by STIR/SHAKEN and based on the Rich Call Data (RCD) industry standard, BCI will empower organizations to better identify themselves to customers with a branded and authenticated outbound call. CTIA serves as the facilitator of the BCI best practices process and is working with companies across the industry to deliver verified and trusted information to participating network providers. The branded caller ID solution complements existing solutions to better protect consumers from scammers and bad actors.

Last year, T-Mobile and partners delivered the first wireless call to combine authenticated Caller ID and RCD, powered by the STIR/SHAKEN framework and protocols. This milestone set the path for network level authentication and for businesses to benefit from the new BCI best practices. These critical investments are the next step in helping protect consumers against scammers and unwanted robocalls that are imitating businesses and trusted organizations.

Today, 100% of calls originating from T-Mobile’s network are STIR/SHAKEN authenticated, and T-Mobile was the first US wireless provider to implement STIR/SHAKEN with all major network providers.