Somos Urges FCC to Advance End-to-End Call Verification to Fight Robocalls
The proposed ‘trust model’ builds on STIR/SHAKEN measures to confirm caller identification.
WASHINGTON, August 13, 2025 – Following a meeting earlier this week with senior staff at the Federal Communications Commission, telecom registry and identity solutions provider Somos was pushing for new industry standards to stop unlawful robocalls and scams.
On August 11, Somos executives Chris Wendt and Heather Hendrickson met with staff from the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, Wireline Competition Bureau, and Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.
“We discussed the next steps the telecom industry can take in combating robocalls,” the ex parte notice filed August 12 states.
“Specifically, we talked about advancement of standards to ensure end-to-end verification of calls which would allow enterprises, and possibly later individuals, to exercise the Right to Use (RTU) their name, phone number, logo, and other identifying information, while making sure that those not authorized to use that information are prevented from doing so,” the Somos filing states.
Building on the existing STIR/SHAKEN standards – interconnected security measures designed to stop caller ID spoofing – Somos proposed the ‘trust framework’.
This new framework will employ VESPER tokens for secure caller validation and certificate transparency to track and verify issued credentials. KYC/KYB vetting (“Know Your Customer / Know Your Business”) will also be incorporated to confirm callers’ identities before granting credentials.
According to Somos, “the framework enables verified, privacy-protected interactions that safeguard against impersonation and robocall scams.”
Furthermore, “this framework advocates for transparency in call authentication, offering a verifiable and interoperable ecosystem that prioritizes security, consumer trust, and compliance with existing privacy regulations,” the filing states.
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