October 4, 2022
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is threatening to block calls from voice service providers that have not yet taken meaningful action against illegal robocalls and are allowing them to proliferate, as well as exclude them from the American telephone network.
The seven companies involved are Akabis, Cloud4, Global UC, Horizon Technology Group, Morse Communications, Sharon Telephone Company and SW Arkansas Telecommunications and Technology, and they have two weeks to address the concerns of the authority. Otherwise, compliant carriers will be forced to block incoming traffic or be thrown off the American telephone network, as the FCC continues to complain that fines are insufficient.
The announcement comes as the agency works to combat illegal robocalls and address the growing threat of spam texts since the introduction of the STIR/SHAKEN requirements.
In addition, the FCC has adopted rules requiring all voice service providers to verify the authenticity of incoming calls by 2020, after three major US wireless carriers, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, fully implemented the technology by June 2021.
The agency also authorized the start of work on a new rule requiring operators to block texts from numbers previously used illegally, such as to deceive consumers.
The sources for this piece include an article in TheVerge.
