FCC Enforcement Bureau Orders 7 Providers to Show Cause Why They Should Not Have Traffic Blocked for Alleged Non-Compliance With Robocall Mitigation Rules

The FCC’s Robocall Response Team today announced first-of-their-kind Enforcement Bureau orders to begin removing seven voice service providers from the agency’s Robocall Mitigation Database.

The orders demanded that Akabis, Cloud4, Global UC, Horizon Technology Group, Morse Communications, Sharon Telephone Company, and SW Arkansas Telecommunications and Technology show cause within 14 days as to why the FCC should not remove them from the database.  Removal from the database would require all intermediate providers and terminating voice service providers to cease carrying the companies’ traffic.   If that were to occur, all calls from these providers’ customers would be blocked and no traffic originated by the provider would reach the called party.

Providers must take key robocall mitigation steps – including implementing STIR/SHAKEN throughout their IP networks – and if they fail to demonstrate that they have met these requirements, they can be removed from the database and other networks will no longer take their traffic.

The FCC launched the Robocall Mitigation Database in which voice service providers must file certifications to inform the agency of their STIR/SHAKEN implementation status and, in some cases, their robocall mitigation efforts. Voice service providers certifying to anything short of full STIR/SHAKEN implementation must describe the robocall mitigation steps they are taking to ensure they are not the source of illegal robocalls. If a voice service provider does not file or does not adequately file in the database, other voice service providers must block the noncompliant provider’s calls.