Overview
Introduction & Orientation
Branded Calling—Making Trust Visible and Verifiable
Voice remains the world’s most universal channel for personal and business communication. Yet today, as fraud, spoofing, and uncertainty escalate, both enterprises and consumers are asking: Who is really calling me—and can I trust them? At the same time, carriers and regulators face the urgent challenge of restoring trust and transparency to the voice channel, while keeping up with shifting technology, compliance needs, and consumer expectations.
Branded Calling has emerged as the global response. By allowing organizations to display their verifiable name, logo, and even the reason for the call on recipients’ devices, branded calling directly addresses the root causes of declining answer rates, lost consumer confidence, and rising regulatory pressure. But the true innovation isn’t just in what users see—it’s in the ability for every participant in the ecosystem to independently verify the evidence behind every branded call. (See Comparing to RCD.)
The GSMA Foundry “Open Verifiable Calling” project brings together leading carriers, technology providers, vetting authorities, and brands to demonstrate that verifiable branded calling can be achieved—securely, openly, across borders, and at industry scale. This is more than just upgrading caller ID. (See Comparing to SHAKEN.) It’s about building an end-to-end global trust framework where the evidence of telephone number rights, brand rights, and call intent travels with every call and can be validated at every step, open to audit by anyone, anywhere, at any time.
What makes this initiative unique:
Authoritative onboarding and vetting: Brand and number rights are established by recognized authorities—ensuring that only legitimate organizations can present branded calls.
Cryptographically verifiable credentials: The proof of rights and identity is embedded as part of each call, so that any operator, network, or device can check the evidence, not just trust prior approval.
Visible user indicators: Consumers and enterprises both benefit from clear, consistent signals—knowing, with confidence, who is calling, what brand or service is represented, and why the call is happening.
Open and interoperable by design: Built on global, standards-aligned protocols, the solution is designed for rapid adoption, cross-carrier interoperability, and ongoing regulatory compliance.
Our shared goal:
To deliver a demonstration—at industry scale—that proves branded calling can be trusted, compliant, user-friendly, and universally accessible, regardless of carrier, device, or geography.
This guide is your map.
Whether you are a carrier, vetting provider, brand, integrator, or observer, you are invited to join this collaborative journey. Together, we will define and prove the new standard for trusted, verifiable branded calling—rooted in openness, evidence, and visible assurance for every call.
Project Context & Problem Statement
Why Branded Calling? Why Now?
The decline in consumer trust for voice calls is a global challenge. Traditional caller ID solutions, and even newer frameworks like STIR/SHAKEN, have shifted the baseline for number authentication, but have not solved the need for trusted, verifiable branding—especially for cross-border and multi-carrier calls.
The result:
Consumers increasingly ignore or block calls—even from businesses and institutions they know.
Enterprises face falling answer rates and limited ability to reassure customers about the legitimacy of important calls.
Regulators require stronger Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) processes, auditability, and proof of compliance—not just at onboarding, but for every call.
Branded Calling, when truly verifiable, brings all stakeholders onto common ground:
Consumers gain confidence with visible, validated caller information.
Businesses and brands see higher engagement and brand equity.
Carriers and vendors can assure regulators of robust, evidence-backed processes.
Regulators get transparency, auditability, and compliance by design.
What’s been missing until now is a framework that makes this verifiability portable between networks and jurisdictions, cryptographic, and open—removing dependence on proprietary or “black box” solutions, and allowing any participant to independently verify the evidence for every branded call – in realtime, or auditable at any time afterwards.
Why GSMA Foundry, and Why Now?
The OVC project breaks this stalemate by demonstrating a truly open, decentralized, and evidence-based approach. Drawing from other industries (notably, global LEI/vLEI standards in finance), and building on recent live, cross-border telecom trials, OVC now brings these lessons to the broadest stage:
Demonstrate interoperable, verifiable calling at Mobile World Congress 2026
Onboard vetters, signers, verifiers, and observers into a functioning, evidence-based ecosystem
Document and share a toolkit for industry and regulatory adoption, paving the way for global deployment
The Stakes
Trust should not just be aspirational–it is now the competitive edge, a regulatory requirement, and the foundation for the next era of digital communications. OVC is the industry’s opportunity to show how verifiable evidence delivers trust and unlocks new value for regulators, operators, enterprises, and consumers alike.
Project Streams & Governance
How the Project is Structured
The OVC Foundry Project is organized into four collaborative streams, each focused on a critical success factor:
Demonstrator Stream: Builds, tests, and validates the end-to-end branded calling platform—including onboarding, signing, and verification, with agreed basic vetting for the demo.
Technology Stream: Reviews all technical components (KERI, ACDC, vLEI, SIP, RCD, etc.), aligns architecture for branding presentation and verification, addresses scalability, security, and integration.
Go-to-Market Stream: Shapes the overall service offering, governance processes, monetization, and extended use cases (e.g., consumer-to-consumer, brand-to-consumer).
Participation in all streams is open to all qualified organizations. Regular sessions and biweekly stream meetings ensure ongoing alignment and progress.
Core Approach — The Evidence Advantage
Evidence That Travels with Every Call
The Open Verifiable Calling solution is built on the simple, but transformative, principle that every claim of identity, number right, or branding right must be backed by cryptographically verifiable evidence that can be checked by any participant at any time:
Trust must be evidence-based—and that evidence must travel with the call itself.
Every claim—who is calling, which brand, what authority, for what purpose—is not just asserted but cryptographically proven, inspectable, and portable.
Core Components
Verifiable Credentials: All rights and claims (numbers, brands, logos, call intent) are represented as portable, cryptographically signed credentials.
Open Standards: The protocols (KERI, ACDC, vLEI, SIP, STIR, RCD, etc.) are globally recognized, non-proprietary, and designed for broad adoption.
Collections of Evidence: Each call carries a dossier—a compact collection of verifiable credentials—that can be embedded in signaling or referenced as metadata. This dossier proves, in real time, the chain of authority that can be proven from initial vetting to the call itself.
Distributed Governance: No single gatekeeper. Multiple vetting authorities, issuers, and verifiers can participate. Trust is anchored in open, verifiable evidence, not vendor lock-in.
How It Works
Onboarding & Vetting: Enterprise/brand is onboarded and vetted by an authorized provider, issuing credentials attesting to identity, number, and brand rights.
Signing & Call Origination: The call is signed using these credentials—proving, cryptographically, who is calling and what rights are asserted.
Transmission & Verification: As the call traverses networks, the dossier remains attached/discoverable and tamper-evident.
Verification & Presentation: Any operator or provider can independently verify the claims—no “phoning home,” no “black box.” The user receives a branded, trusted, verifiable call.
What This Enables
Faster onboarding, lower integration cost (no proprietary API lock-in)
Regulatory compliance across borders, for cloud or delegated calls
Level playing field—open standards, not vendor lock-in
Future-proofing for AI, delegation, traceability, and revocation
Why Now?
By moving from assertion (“trust us”) to verifiable evidence (“prove it, in real time”), OVC lays the foundation for regulatory, commercial, and technical trust across the voice ecosystem.
Project Structure & Participant Roles
Key Participant Roles
Vetters / Credential Issuers: Onboard and vet brands, enterprises, numbers, logos; issue credentials per governance models.
Signers / Originators: Initiate calls, signing them with relevant credentials—may include cloud platforms, contact centers, delegated human or AI agents.
Verifiers / Terminators: Receive, inspect, and verify the dossier; present trusted information to end users.
Observers / Industry Partners: Stakeholders in testbed evaluation, regulatory review, or industry analysis.
How Coordination Works
Weekly calls, dedicated prep and debriefs, clear alignment
All participants receive clear, role-specific guides (with this overview as their “navigation map”).
Consensus is sought, but progress is prioritized—blockers are escalated as needed
All materials, results, and findings are shared for industry and regulatory reporting
Demonstration Goals & Success Criteria
What Are We Proving?
End-to-End Branded Calls: Seamless, evidence-rich call flow—from onboarding and vetting, through signing and transmission, to verification and branded presentation.
Cloud-Originated, Cross-Border Trust: Portable, verifiable proof of right-to-use for international, cross-border, cloud-based calls.
Flexible Governance: Trust is not locked into a single vendor or CA—multiple vetting and credential-issuing organizations prove trust can be federated.
Mutual Authentication & Delegation: Support for advanced use cases: B2B, B2C, delegated calls (AI/agent).
Interoperability: Demo works across diverse carriers, network types, device classes—proving readiness for global deployment.
Validation of Success
Live demonstration at MWC 2026—multiple parties, real-world flows.
At least three participant types integrate using project documentation/toolkits, with reduced onboarding friction.
Calls traverse international boundaries, involve multiple operators, and are independently verified at termination.
Credentials, flows, and outcomes are auditable; toolkit and whitepaper provide a replicable roadmap for global adoption.
Participation & Next Steps
How to Get Started
Join the Project: Confirm participation, assign a lead, identify roles.
Complete Onboarding: Credentialing, integration, verification, testing in the sandbox.
Engage and Iterate: Weekly calls, workshops, feedback to refine the toolkit.
Prepare for Demo Day: Milestones and feedback loop for validation.
Expectations
Open collaboration; active engagement; willingness to iterate.
Commitment to project goals and shared success.
Contact project leads or your stream coordinator with questions.
All onboarding materials available via the GSMA Foundry portal.
What Happens After the Demo?
The MWC 2026 demonstration will inform GSMA and industry about the path to standardization, regulatory alignment, and commercial pilots. OVC is designed as a springboard for broader adoption—enabling future phases, pilots, and open standards alignment across multiple regions and industry segments. This Overview Guide is a living document—feedback and updates are welcomed as the project evolves.
Guiding Principles & Closing
Openness: All standards, protocols, and documentation are public and non-proprietary.
Evidence Over Heuristics: Every claim must be backed by cryptographically verifiable evidence.
Portability & Flexibility: Designed for global, cross-carrier, and cross-border deployment.
Decentralized Governance: Trust is anchored in evidence and transparency—not single points of failure.
Pragmatism & Results: Every feature is designed for practical deployment, tested in live calls, with real-world feedback.
Vision & Call to Action
Restore confidence for consumers, enterprises, and regulators. Unlock new value for all participants. Future-proof voice for AI, automation, and global scale.
This is a call to build more than just a demonstration. Let’s prove how it’s possible to deploy a durable, open standard for the next era of trusted communications together.
Supporting Materials
Appendix B: End-to-End Call Flow Diagrams
Role-Specific Integration Checklists
Appendix E: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Appendix F: Reference Links & Further Reading
Appendix G: Attribution, Credits & Contact Info
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