Insights

Your Guide to the New FCC Mandate for Gateway Providers

Jun 15, 2022

In its continued mission to fight illegal spoofing & robocalls as well as to prevent otherwise unwanted calls, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – at the Open Meeting held on May 19, 2022 – issued the Gateway Provider Report and Order, Order on Reconsideration, Order, and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. 

What is the purpose of the new mandate?

Aimed at helping stop robocall scams that are internationally initiated, these updated rules provide a multi-pronged approach to combatting telecom fraud, including more stringent call authentication requirements. In particular, to help ensure that illegal, foreign-originated calls entering the U.S. marketplace are properly blocked, the FCC mandated that International Gateway Providers reference a “reasonable” Do Not Originate list when routing calls.

What is a Do Not Originate list?

A “Do Not Originate” list is a listing of phone numbers that have been identified as spoofed and being used to facilitate illegal, fraudulent or otherwise malicious traffic. These are in-bound only numbers that should never originate calls, as well as numbers that are unassigned or unallocated.

Is Somos’ RealNumber DNO considered “a ‘reasonable’ Do Not Originate list” per the FCC?

YES! With over 6B Toll-Free and local 10-digit numbers in its dataset, the RealNumber DNO list includes numbers identified by service providers, which should never be used for call origination – thus helping Gateway Providers maintain compliance with the FCC’s recent mandate. In addition, RealNumber DNO can help Gateway Providers and U.S.-based operators identify calls that originate from invalid, unallocated and/or unused numbers.

What sets RealNumber DNO apart from other solutions/DNO lists?

A LOT! First and foremost, RealNumber DNO is the ONLY DNO list that comes direct from the trusted administrator of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) and the Toll-Free Number Registry^TM (TFNRegistry).

In addition, RealNumber DNO’s database includes the Industry Traceback Group’s (ITG’s) list of numbers that have been thoroughly vetted and identified as numbers spoofed to facilitate illegal, fraudulent, or otherwise malicious traffic. With this, RealNumber DNO can offer a one-stop solution that is comprehensive, affordable and user-friendly.

Are there any deadlines for the new FCC mandate for Gateway Providers that I should be aware of?

There are, yes. Please reference the table below for important dates that we recommend you add to your calendar:

Interested in learning more about how RealNumber DNO can help you increase trust, drive confidence and remain compliant with FCC initiatives?

If so, email connect@somos.com or call or text Somos’ team of fraud fighting experts today at 844.HEY.SOMOS