North American leadership for 6G and beyond -- and more

Summer 2021

From ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller

ATIS accelerates the pace of innovation for our industry through a broad and dynamic range of initiatives, including the Next G Alliance. The Update highlights some of our most recent contributions and their impact. Learn more at www.atis.org.

ATIS' Next G Alliance Launches Technical Work Program Setting 6G Roadmap into Action

Building the foundation for North American leadership in 6G and beyond.

Driven by an ambitious and future-focused mission, the Next G Alliance has launched its technical work program and announced the formation of the key working groups (WGs).

The National 6G Roadmap WG is developing and maintaining the North American 6G vision, lifecycle roadmap and time frame for 6G. It acts as a coordination point across the five other WGs addressing Green G, Technology, Applications, Spectrum and Societal/Economic Drivers, respectively.

With a strong emphasis on technology commercialization, the work of the Next G Alliance will encompass the entire lifecycle of research and development, manufacturing, standardization and market readiness -- and set the foundation for a robust marketplace for U.S. innovation in future generations of communications technology.

VT-ARC Named Technical Program Office

Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation (VT-ARC) has been selected as the Technical Program Office for the Next G Alliance. In this role, VT-ARC will manage and synchronize the deliverables of the Next G Alliance working groups and engage the broader academic research community in the initiative’s primary goal of establishing North American leadership in 6G.

Strategic Initiatives

Advancing Operators' Priorities in a Quantum Computing World

The power of quantum computers is exponentially greater than that of computers in use today. As such, quantum enables advancements in applications in cryptography, AI, machine learning and more. Yet there is concern that these innovations may compromise encryption algorithms widely used by network operators. Launched in May, the Quantum-Safe Initiative will examine this issue and others, with the goal of advancing operators' priorities in a quantum computing world.

Next G Voice Architecture

Voice is increasingly expanding beyond human two-way communications into voice assistants, smart devices, gaming and other machine-driven applications. The ICT industry must start assessing the future pathway of voice services now. Once again ATIS is taking the lead. An initiative slated for launch later this year will explore new architectural approaches for efficiently managing voice applications in both the consumer and enterprise markets. The goal is to help operators deliver a high-quality experience across a burgeoning range of new applications.

Smart Cities

Forward-looking data governance policies can help smart cities position themselves to reap opportunities inherent in the data-sharing economy. Recognizing the strategic link between data governance policies and the effectiveness of emerging data-centric solutions, a new ATIS report helps cities progress in their digital transformation journey. Access Smart City Data Governance Policies: Creating a Foundation for Data Sharing with City Partners, a report developed in partnership with USIgnite.

Ensuring Integrity of the 5G Supply Chain

ATIS is applying Supply Chain Risk Management principles to the development of supply chain standards for trusted 5G networks and services. The goal is to secure the 5G supply chain in both the public and private sectors. A multi-layered supply chain model has been developed. The descriptions, controls and requirements it contains will be integrated into a 5G supply chain assured networks draft standard on-target for delivery at the end of 2021.

User-Controlled Privacy through Self-Sovereign Identity

Recent regulation addressing personally identifiable information and privacy will have business implications for communication service providers. A new ATIS initiative will address the impact, specifically examining the potential use of a self-sovereign identity (SSI) service. SSI provides a portable identity, gives customers control over the data they share and guarantees continuity of service for the user across any network. These controls would ensure that any business the consumer shares data with can easily be compliant with privacy regulation.

Robocalling Mitigation

STI-GA Enables Industry to Meet FCC Mandate for SHAKEN Adoption

As the FCC’s June 30 mandate date nears for STIR/SHAKEN adoption, the industry continues to make progress in its fight against illegal robocalling and caller ID spoofing through the work of the ATIS-managed Secure Telephone Identity Governance Authority (STI-GA). The STI-GA is responsible for setting up and overseeing the industry-run framework to authenticate calling telephone numbers. With the FCC deadline approaching, more than 200 service providers have signed up to participate in SHAKEN, ensuring customer calls are being authenticated in growing numbers.

As the the number of service providers participating in the SHAKEN framework grows, the STI-GA is working to implement policies to ensure participation will continue to increase moving forward. With funding now ensured into 2022, the industry’s ability to use STIR/SHAKEN to help mitigate illegal caller ID spoofing will only become more robust.

Educating the Industry on Robocalling Mitigation

The STI-GA's 2021 focus has indeed been growth in terms of service provider participation. To further industry education, ATIS hosted the STI-GA webinar series to help service providers understand how to join and participate in the SHAKEN framework. With over 750 registrants and 500 live attendees, the webinars were highly successful in reaching the intended audience. They are archived for playback here.

Standards and Solutions

Advancing SHAKEN Implementation

In addition to the work of the STI-GA, ATIS has recently released two documents to expand the scope of SHAKEN:

SHAKEN: Calling Name and Rich Call Data Handling Procedures. Expands the SHAKEN framework, introducing mechanisms for authentication, verification and transport of calling name and other enhanced caller identity information (e.g., images, logos) and call reason, and describing how they are handled in various call origination and termination scenarios. This will provide enterprises a secure mechanism to enrich their interactions with their customers that goes well beyond the verified telephone number supported by base SHAKEN.
Study of SHAKEN Impacts on 9-1-1 Calls and Callback Call. Explores the impacts of applying STIR/SHAKEN Caller Identity authentication and verification as well as Resource-Priority header and SIP Priority header signing to 9-1-1 and callback calls. This technical report advancing the critical goal that the 9-1-1 infrastructure is fully compatible with SHAKEN, and that emergency calls receive the appropriate priority within the SHAKEN ecosystem.

More Standards and Solutions Innovation

The Pandemic Checklist has been updated, helping operators prepare for, respond to and recover from a pandemic event.
ATIS experts urge Congress to address the critical need for funding and deployment of GPS alternatives.
ATIS’ Network Reliability Steering Committee has completed a new Operational Report, covering network reliability and resiliency, 9-1-1, cybersecurity issues and more.
Seeking industry input on distributed single-phase cooling innovation.

Additional Regulatory-Related Advancements

Hearing Aid Compatibility

The Hearing Aid Compatibility Task Force (HAC TF) has contracted to conduct two surveys to make a recommendation to the FCC as to the achievability of a 100 percent FCC HAC compliance requirement for wireless handsets such as cell phones. The two surveys will assist the HAC TF in understanding the behavior and experiences of: (1) consumers that use hearing aid devices; and (2) hearing health care professionals. The report is due to the FCC in 2022.

Strategic Additions to the ATIS Team

ATIS Welcomes Its First Vice President of Technology Policy and Government Relations

In May, ATIS announced that Glenn Reynolds has joined the organization as VP of Technology Policy and Government Relations. In collaboration with members’ policy staff, Reynolds will lead efforts to progress the ambitious goals of ATIS’ Next G Alliance with key government agencies and Congress. ATIS welcomes Glenn in this new role and believes he will further strengthen our role as a leader in aligning the ICT industry on priorities critical to shaping the future technology landscape.

Improving the Industry Terminal Attachment Resource

ATIS recently launched the newly rebuilt ACTA database, maintained on behalf of the FCC. It contains a master list of all terminal equipment approved for connection directly to wireline carrier networks in the U.S. and is accessed by carriers, U.S. Customs, the FCC and others. The update has resulted in a faster, streamlined and more intuitive user experience for ACTA filers and database users.