Insights

The Path to DNO Notification Exemption

Jan 31, 2022

From our first ever Toll-Free Traffic Pumping Workshop, an educational, industry event, held in 2016 to the 2021 launch of RealNumber Do Not Originate (DNO), a solution that can help proactively protect an enterprise’s trusted business number from fraudulent calls and illegal spoofing, Somos has long been a strong consumer advocate in the fight against fraud in telecom.

In the continued fight against fraud, Somos recently partnered with USTelecom to develop a petition for reconsideration of a previously adopted Federal Communications Commission (FCC) provision. Specifically, the 4th Report and Order in the robocall docket at the end of December 2020, required Carriers to notify Call Originators of ANY blocked calls, including those calls blocked because they were on a DNO list.

When it comes to RealNumber DNO, this petition noted an inherent quandary – since a DNO list contains numbers that should never make an outbound call (non-dialable numbers, such as 800-123-4567, unassigned numbers and numbers put on the list by subscribers), the notification would not alert a legitimate caller that their calls are being blocked, rather it would only alert the bad guys. 

The FCC agreed with Somos and in its Order on Reconsideration, Sixth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Waiver Order, ruled that notification is not necessary when a call is blocked pursuant to a DNO list. This is a huge win for consumers, as it would help allow continued protection from fraudulent, illegally spoofed and/or otherwise unwanted phone calls.

As an industry, it is mission-critical that we continue to work collaboratively to protect the integrity of Toll-Free and local 10-digit numbers. We look forward to continuing to empower the telecom industry and keeping telephony a safe, trustworthy and dependable way for businesses and organizations to connect to their customers.

To learn more about how Somos’ RealNumber DNO solution can help you increase trust and drive further confidence in phone calls, email us at realnumber@somos.com or call or text us at 844.HEY.SOMOS.