FCC asks gateway providers to stop illegal robocalls
The FCC Enforcement Bureau asked seven gateway voice service providers for their support in stopping the flow of illegal robocalls that originate outside the U.S. To this end, the Commission asked the these providers the following six questions about their business practices:
- What technical and procedural processes do they have in place to detect or identify call traffic with foreign origin that is likely to be illegal?
- What procedures do they employ to ensure that Caller ID has not been unlawfully spoofed?
- What percentage of traffic comes from foreign sources?
- What percentage of clients are located outside the U.S.?
- Do they advertise their services in foreign countries?
- Have they taken any action in the last six months to either terminate or restrict foreign traffic that they suspected to be illegal?
These letters were sent to the following gateway voice service providers:
- All Access Telecom, Inc., Forney, Texas
- Globex Telecom, Sun Valley, California
- Piratel, LLC, Los Alamitos, California
- Talkie Communications, Inc., Chestertown, Maryland
- Telcast Networks, LLC, Dover, Deleware
- ThinQ, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina
- Third Base International Telecom LLC, Fort Meyers, Florida
These gateway voice service providers were identified using tracebacks by the USTelecom Industry Traceback group for apparently illegal robocalls that originated overseas. As the point of entry, these letters stated, these providers are uniquely situated to assist government and industry efforts to combat apparently illegal robocalls.
The letters requested a response by February 17, 2020.
