FCC to Require Telecommunications Companies to Block International Robocalls

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FCC New Robocall Guidance Overview: 

• Who: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unanimously agreed to adopt new guidance for telecommunications providers to help prevent robocalls. 
• Why: The FCC says many illegal robocalls originate abroad and can be better prevented with new procedures.
• Where: The new FCC regulations will affect callers nationwide.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unanimously decided to enact new regulations that will require telecom providers to block unlawful robocalls when routing phone traffic into the country.

The new FCC mandate will require providers that channel international phone calls to implement a new policy called STIR/SHAKEN in addition to other new measures aimed at preventing robocalls.

The decision to require telecom providers to implement the new procedures passed in a 4-0 vote by the commission as the agency attempts to resolve an issue that has plagued the industry for years.

“Stopping illegal robocalls is one of the Commission’s top consumer protection priorities,” the FCC states in a fact sheet dated April 28. “Illegal robocalls that originate abroad present a particular problem because of the difficulty in reaching foreign-based robocallers and the foreign voice service providers that originate their traffic.” 

FCC Adopts Three New Initiatives in Effort to Curb Robocalls

The FCC adopted a total of three new initiatives, including a requirement for gateway providers to submit both a mitigation and certification plan to the Robocall Mitigation Database. This database is used to track the practices telecom providers use to block robocalls and certifies that they are adhering to those practices.

The STIR/SHAKEN policy, meanwhile, authenticates “unauthenticated Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) calls that are carrying a U.S. number in the caller ID field,” according to the agency.

“Gateway providers serve as a critical choke-point for reducing the number of illegal robocalls received by American consumers,” the FCC says in a statement. “The new rules require gateway providers to participate in robocall mitigation, including blocking efforts, take responsibility for illegal robocall campaigns on their networks, cooperate with FCC enforcement efforts, and quickly respond to efforts to trace illegal robocalls to their source.”

Telecom providers that do not adhere to the new requirements may be removed from the database and potentially subjected to mandatory blocking by others in the network, according to the FCC.

There were more than 50 billion robocalls in the United States last year. The FCC, meanwhile, has ordered a total of $208.4 million in fines for Telephone Consumer Protection Act violations since 2015.

Have you received an unwanted robocall on your phone? Let us know in the comments!

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