For years, businesses have dealt with their legitimate calls being ignored or confused with spam, while consumers have been the recipients of millions of illegal and unwanted calls. To combat this issue, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has taken a number of aggressive steps, including authorizing carriers and their analytics engines to block calls in certain scenarios and requiring carriers to enact caller ID authentication (or STIR/SHAKEN), as originally mandated by the U.S. Congress in the TRACED Act. The Commission has also encouraged legitimate call originators to engage with the carriers and their analytics engines in a collaborative attempt to protect legitimate and wanted calls.
In order to facilitate important interaction between the callers and the analytics engines who provide call blocking and labeling services to carriers, the three leading call analytics providers First Orion, Hiya and Transaction Network Services (TNS), have launched FreeCallerRegistry.com, a service designed to streamline the telephone number registration process for call originators. Legitimate entities will now have access to a single, unified registration process with the analytics services that support the major wireless carriers in the United States, impacting more than 200 million mobile subscribers.
Call originators can visit FreeCallerRegistry.com and provide their registration information, including phone numbers, call category, and preferred display name. First Orion, Hiya, and TNS will use the information to support the phone numbers’ reputation with the major U.S. wireless carriers.
All call originators who register with FreeCallerRegistry.com will receive a notification indicating receipt of their registration request directly from each analytics service provider. When First Orion, Hiya, and TNS have independently verified a submission, they will each communicate directly with the call originator from that point forward. This direct line of communication enables convenient and efficient registration with each analytics company and their respective wireless carrier partners.
First Orion, Hiya, and TNS have independent, robust vetting processes that will ensure the need for redress is minimized. We strongly encourage all enterprises and call originators to register their telephone numbers at no cost.
For more information, visit FreeCallerRegistry.com.
Lavinia Kennedy is Director of Product Management for TNS’ Communications Market business with specific responsibility for TNS’ Identity and Protection product suite, including TNS Call Guardian. She can be contacted via solutions@tnsi.com.
