This week at GSMA’s London Office, twenty companies from across the telecoms ecosystem came together to launch a new resource to combat fraud: Open Verifiable Calling (OVC).
Richard Cockle, Head of GSMA Foundry and Connected Industries, reminded us that scam calls cost consumers and businesses nearly $1 trillion a year, and mobile voice is used in almost half of all fraud attempts. Trust in phone calls is collapsing. Around the table, participants shared stories of friends and family being targeted, reminding us that this is not just a statistic, but a personal problem for millions.
OVC tackles this head-on. By embedding cryptographic proof of identity and rights into every call, businesses and organisations can prove who they are, and consumers can finally trust the calls they answer. Verified numbers, names, and even logos will become part of the call experience.
Backed by the GSMA Innovation Foundry and a governance model proven in financial services, OVC is designed to scale globally, interoperably, and openly, free from proprietary lock-in.
Next stop: a live demonstration at MWC Barcelona 2026, followed by pilot deployments with carriers, enterprises, and regulators worldwide.
The goal is simple yet ambitious: to restore trust in mobile voice calls.