It’s clear that we need to fix this problem urgently. The future of telecoms should be trusted, transparent and easy – but what would that look like in practice?

We think the financial services industry provides inspiration. Let me explain.

Telecoms’ end goal should be to ensure that every consumer can feel complete confidence in who is calling them.

Ideally they should know who the caller is before they pick up, and know that the caller is really who they say they are. They might even be provided with some information as to why they are being called.

This is where financial services comes in.

Thanks to industry-standard technology and regulatory rules, anyone making a payment in the UK can get confirmation that the recipient’s bank account details match up to their identity. The veracity of the payee is authenticated in advance.

If the payment is large, they can even receive warnings to confirm and double-check the amount, the account details, or the reason for the transfer.

All of this reinforces trust within the system and cuts down on fraudulent payments.

Our vision of the future is where voice calls come with a similar “green tick” of authentication. It would mean people are far more likely to answer their phones, and the value of voice communication would be massively enhanced.

Making that a reality requires far stronger identification and authentication processes than we currently have in the voice industry. It depends on both great technology and trusted processes that every stakeholder supports.

Frankly, the voice industry has to mature rapidly to get to where the financial services industry has been for some years.

That’s what we’re working on at Wavecrest. As founding members of the i3Forum’s One Consortium, we’re collaborating with industry partners – from national regulatory authorities through to international and domestic carriers – to establish global best practice. It’s also what our new platform is designed to achieve.

While it’s still relatively early days, we believe telecom’s “green tick” future is coming, and we’re aiming to build it.