T-Mobile US completed a wireless call combining authenticated caller ID with Rich Call Data (RCD), demonstrating a new way for consumers to recognise callers and for marketers to identify themselves to potential customers.

RCD is part a protocol known as STIR/SHAKEN, which digitally validates voice calls as they pass from one network to another and is meant to reduce spam calls.

The Federal Communications Commission required US mobile operators to implement the protocol this year.

RCD adds information from the originating service provider, giving consumers more detail about who is calling. T-Mobile CTO Abdul Saad called it “a key tool in the battle against scammers”.

The operator cited data from the Pew Research Center reporting 67 per cent of US citizens say their general practice is to not answer the phone when an incoming call is from an unknown number. T-Mobile argued this puts mobile subscribers in danger of missing important calls from schools, doctors and financial institutions.

RCD is also helpful to businesses seeking to market a product or service through voice, since it can display a brand’s logo as part of the caller ID and is delivered straight from the organisation calling, rather than from the third-party databases used for traditional caller ID.

T-Mobile partners on the call included First Orion, Everbridge, iconectiv, NetNumber, Numeracle, Twilio and the CTIA.

Tom Sawanobori, CTO of the CTIA, called the proof-of-concept “an important milestone in protecting wireless consumers and enhancing confidence in voice calls”.