T-Mobile US has completed what it says is the first wireless call that combines authenticated Caller ID and Rich Call Data (RCD), powered by the Stir/Shaken framework and protocols to protect consumers from scammers. The call was completed on T-Mobile’s voice network using First Orion technology, interfacing with Everbridge, NetNumber, Numeracle, and Twilio.

With RCD, end-users will get a consumer-friendly, recognizable display on their caller ID—in most cases a brand logo—that indicate that the call is from a trusted source. When widely used, RCD will empower consumers with more call information so that they can make the right choices in the moment, stay safe from spam and scammers, and still get important calls.

Tarifica’s Take

Along with lack of network reliability, lack of assurance about the safety of incoming voice calls is one of the key points that operators can address to improve customer satisfaction and raise confidence levels. As mobile-based fraud schemes proliferate and the public becomes more and more concerned about scams and security issues in general, operators can and should invest in technological solutions to these everyday, though quite serious, problems.

T-Mobile’s initiative to bring RCD to every user’s phone is a laudable effort in this direction. Basic caller ID, although useful and well regarded by consumers, derives its information from third-party databases and is implemented on the receiving end of the call. With RCD, on the other hand, the information comes from the entity that originated the call. Furthermore, the Stir/Shaken framework, in which RCD participates, ensures the information will not be displayed unless it is authenticated. Therefore, by combining RCD with the existing caller ID protocol, T-Mobile will be providing its subscribers with the most complete, accurate and reliable information about the origin of any given voice call, thereby removing the uncertainty that not only reduces customer confidence in mobile networks’s safety but also reduces the number of voice calls that are completed. Implementation of the RCD solution, therefore, should also have the effect of increasing revenue through airtime minutes consumed.