Federal Communications Commission	DA 23-1158

DA 23-1158
Released:  December 15, 2023

WIRELINE COMPETITION BUREAU REMINDS NON-GATEWAY INTERMEDIATE PROVIDERS OF STIR/SHAKEN IMPLEMENTATION DEADLINE

WC Docket No. 17-97

This Public Notice reminds non-gateway intermediate providers not subject to an extension that they must use STIR/SHAKEN to authenticate caller ID information for all unauthenticated SIP calls received directly from an originating provider no later than December 31, 2023. See 47 CFR § 64.6302(d) (“[A] non-gateway intermediate provider must, not later than December 31, 2023, authenticate caller identification information for all calls it receives directly from an originating provider and for which the caller identification information has not been authenticated and which it will exchange with another provider as a SIP call, unless that non-gateway intermediate provider is subject to an applicable extension in § 64.6304.”); Call Authentication Trust Anchor, WC Docket No 17-97, Sixth Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, FCC 23-18, at 9, para. 15 (Mar. 17, 2023) (Sixth Caller ID Authentication Report and Order). 
  
In 2020, the Commission required intermediate providers to either authenticate any unauthenticated caller ID information for the SIP calls they receive or, alternatively, cooperate with the industry traceback consortium and fully and timely respond to all traceback requests received from the Commission, law enforcement, and the industry traceback consortium. See 47 CFR § 64.6302(b)(1)-(2); Call Authentication Trust Anchor, WC Docket No. 17-97, Second Report and Order, 36 FCC Rcd 1859, 1926, para. 140 (2020).  
  Subsequently, however, the Commission required all providers in the path of a SIP call—including intermediate providers—to respond fully and in a timely manner to traceback requests. Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls, CG Docket No. 17-59, Fourth Report and Order, 35 FCC Rcd 15221, 15227-29, paras. 15-21 (2020); see 47 CFR § 64.1200(n)(1).  
  As a result, intermediate providers may not have been incentivized to authenticate caller ID information, given that compliance with the traceback alternative was mandatory. Sixth Caller ID Authentication Report and Order at 9, para. 15.
  
In March 2023, the Commission addressed that gap in the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication regime by establishing a mandatory caller ID authentication obligation for certain intermediate providers.  Specifically, the Commission required “any non-gateway intermediate provider that receives an unauthenticated SIP call directly from an originating provider to authenticate the call” using the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication framework. Id.
  Under this rule, by December 31, 2023, Id. at 15, para. 27.  Gateway providers were required to implement STIR/SHAKEN by June 30, 2023.  See 47 CFR § 64.6302(c).  
 the first non-gateway intermediate provider in the call chain must implement STIR/SHAKEN and  authenticate any unauthenticated SIP calls, unless subject to an applicable extension. See 47 CFR §§ 64.6302(d) (caller ID authentication by non-gateway intermediate providers); 64.6304 (extension of implementation deadline).  
 
Contact Information.  For further information, please contact Erik Beith, Wireline Competition Bureau, Competition Policy Division, at (202) 418-0756 or by email at Erik.Beith@fcc.gov.

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