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Major telecom companies across the U.S. are partnering with attorneys general from every state to sign a pact aimed at combating the nationwide surge in robocalls, according to a press release from North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein.
Why it matters: This is the latest attempt to address robocalls plaguing the country, with companies working to prevent the calls on their networks and investigate their origins.
- The Federal Communications Commission reportedly receives more than 200,000 annual complaints about robocalls.
Among other things, the pact asks companies to:
- Give customers the option to block and label robocalls for free.
- Use tech to authenticate the validity of calls.
- Monitor networks for robocall traffic.
- Work with law enforcement to track down scammers.
Yes, but: The pact doesn't "stop illegal calls directly, but is instead designed to bolster efforts to track illegal robocalls." The agreement does not include smaller, internet-based carriers either, says the Wall Street Journal.
Participating companies:
- AT&T
- Verizon Communications
- T-Mobile USA
- Sprint Corp.
- CenturyLink
- Bandwidth
- Charter Communications
- Frontier
- US Cellular
- Windstream
- Comcast
- Consolidated Communications
Go deeper: Where all the robocalls are coming from