By Doug Green
“Businesses are experiencing a form of identity theft in voice—and they’re paying the price for fraud they didn’t create.”
At the Channel Partners Conference & Expo 2026, I spoke with Maurie Munro, Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Transaction Network Services (TNS), about one of the most urgent challenges facing the telecom ecosystem: the collapse of trust in voice.
TNS operates at the intersection of enterprises, carriers, and consumers, with a communications division focused on ensuring that legitimate calls are delivered, recognized, and trusted. But as Munro explained, the reality is far more complex.
Today’s voice environment is shaped by widespread spoofing and fraud, where bad actors impersonate legitimate businesses by using real phone numbers without authorization. The result is what Munro describes as “identity theft in voice,” where enterprises suffer reputational and operational damage from activity they didn’t initiate.
Consumers, in turn, have adapted. Caller ID is no longer trusted. Calls are ignored, labeled as “Spam Likely,” or blocked altogether—often impacting legitimate outreach. For enterprises, that translates into declining answer rates, reduced campaign performance, and strained customer relationships.
TNS brings a data-driven approach to solving this problem, processing more than 1.5 billion call events daily. This scale gives the company deep visibility into how calls are treated across networks and where breakdowns in trust occur.
The company’s TNS-COM business focuses on three critical areas:
- Spoof protection, which helps enterprises identify when and how their numbers are being misused without their knowledge
- Enterprise branded calling, which displays a verified business name and logo on the consumer’s device
- Telephone number reputation monitoring, providing visibility into how calls are labeled, scored, and treated across the ecosystem
Together, these capabilities help enterprises protect their brand identity in voice—much like consumers monitor and protect their personal identity in financial systems.
The impact is particularly acute in high-touch industries such as banking, healthcare, retail, and contact centers, where voice remains essential for critical communications like fraud alerts, appointment reminders, and service notifications. When those calls fail to connect—or worse, are mistrusted—the consequences ripple across operations, increasing costs and reducing effectiveness.
Looking ahead, Munro sees branded calling evolving beyond simple identification. While displaying a business name is important, the future lies in richer context—logo, intent, and verified identity working together to rebuild trust at scale.
“The goal isn’t just to get the call through,” Munro emphasized. “It’s to ensure the person receiving it knows who it’s from—and can trust it.”
As the industry continues to combat fraud and improve call authentication frameworks, the next phase is clear: restoring confidence in voice as a trusted channel for both businesses and consumers.
Learn more: https://tnsi.com/
