news & events

Fraud and abuse in the form of robocalling, and more specifically illegally spoofed calling, is the No. 1 consumer complaint to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Robocalls make up nearly half of all phone calls, so frustrated consumers simply don't answer incoming calls and businesses can't get through to customers when they need to reach them. At the root of the problem is the ease of spoofing caller IDs. Anyone can spoof their outbound Caller ID by using an online service like…

On this NMG hosted panel, we will find out the state of play for robocalling in 2019, and what the solutions are for spoofing as bad actors continue to work around industry policies and implementations. We will hear from leaders about what we can all expect from the private and public sectors, to help carriers mitigate the rise of robocalling and help bring to fruition the fall of robocalling. Speakers: Linda Vandeloop, AVP External Affairs/Regulatory, AT&T Chris Drake, CTO,…

As the population ages, buying power is shifting to Millennials and others who are communicating far differently than their older counterparts. Today’s younger generations are moving away from phone calls and emails and replacing them with texting. Companies are starting to shift in that direction as well, recognizing that text messaging could help them reach an untapped group of consumers, though the change is still in its very early stages. To show just how commonplace texting has become,…

In the U.S. market, the LNP program is administered through a national database called the NPAC (National Portability Administration Center) which contains the routing information for over 800 million ported and pooled numbers. Since the late 90s, the NPAC was run by Neustar, under a contract managed by a consortium of Telecommunications Services Providers and overseen by the FCC.  Then, in 2018, administration of the NPAC shifted to iconectiv, the former Telcordia Technologies, a…

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) promises unprecedented technological flexibility, business agility and savings. Realizing the benefits that NFV promises creates some hurdles for service providers who can be stymied by the initial complexity and cost of integrating the thousands of potential Network Function Virtual Infrastructure (NFVI) and Virtual Network Function (VNF) combinations from dozens of vendors into their network. Standards bodies are working to address the onboarding…

At the end of the day, it’s not about being the smartest person in the room. It’s about surrounding yourself with smart talented people who can use their unique skills to drive projects forward and get the best possible result. Everyone has a voice and should communicate their ideas openly. A leader must be able to listen, respond, stay on track and move in a direction that will allow the whole team to be successful. The bottom line: Successful projects require great leadership and the…

Both the US Government’s House of Representatives and the Senate recently approved respective dedicated anti-robocalling measures which if signed into law will make it easier for tougher penalties to be imposed on illegal robocallers and fraudsters. It will also demand carriers deploy call authentication technology at a much faster rate. In this exclusive MEF briefing Chris Drake, CTO at iconectiv who are the nationwide policy administrator in the US on behalf of ATIS, explains the new ID…