Today's Regulatory Mix:  FTC and FCC Send Joint Letters About Coronavirus-related Robocalls to VoIP Providers; Thanks USTelecom, FCC Announces Tentative Agenda For April Meeting

FTC and FCC Send Joint Letters About Coronavirus-related Robocalls to VoIP Providers; Thanks USTelecom 

The FTC announced and the FCC announced that it sent joint letters with the FCC to three VoIP providers, warning them that routing and transmitting illegal robocalls, including Coronavirus-related scam calls, is illegal and may lead to federal law enforcement against them. The FCC and FTC have been working closely with the U.S. Department of Justice on this first-of-its-kind effort to stop scammers from reaching American consumers.

The agencies sent a separate letter to USTelecom – The Broadband Association (USTelecom), a trade association that represents U.S.-based telecommunications-related businesses.  The letter thanks USTelecom for identifying and mitigating fraudulent robocalls that are taking advantage of the Coronavirus national health crisis, and notes that the USTelecom Industry Traceback Group has helped identify various entities that appear to be responsible for originating or transmitting Coronavirus-related scam robocalls.

The letter further notifies USTelecom that if, after 48 hours of the release of the letter, any of the specified gateway or originating providers continue to route or transmit the specified originators’ robocalls on its network, the FCC will: 1) authorize other U.S. providers to block all calls coming from that gateway or originating provider; and 2) authorize other U.S. providers to take any other steps as needed to prevent further transmission of unlawful calls originating from the originator.

“The FTC will not stand for illegal robocallers that harm the public, particularly in the middle of a health crisis,” said FTC Chairman Joe Simons.  “These warning letters make clear that VoIP providers who help illegal robocallers prey on fears surrounding the Coronavirus are squarely in our sights.”

“When it comes to scam robocalls, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.  These phone companies need to cut off this traffic and protect consumers from these scams.  The choice is simple: Move forward as responsible network providers or see themselves cut off from the phone system,” warned FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.  “During this national emergency, it is unconscionable that these companies are abusing their access to our nation’s telephone network by serving as conduits for scam robocallers who are subjecting Americans to coronavirus-related fraud.  This must end and must end now.  And to any other service provider that’s carrying or is thinking of carrying such traffic, be warned: If you do so, you too will find yourselves excluded from our phone system.”

The letters come one week after the FTC sent nine warning letters to VoIP service providers and other companies, warning them that they may be assisting illegal telemarketing relating to the Coronavirus.

See the Regulatory Mix dated 3/30/20.  

FCC Announces Tentative Agenda For April Meeting

The FCC announced the tentative agenda for its April 23, 2020, Open Meeting. 

• Unlicensed Use of the 6 GHz Band – A Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would promote innovation and the use of midband spectrum for broadband by allowing unlicensed operations in the 5.925-7.125 GHz band while protecting existing licensed operations. 
• Proposing the 5G Fund for Rural America – A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order that would propose to establish the 5G Fund for Rural America, awarding up to $9 billion in support over 10 years for the deployment of 5G mobile broadband services in rural areas. 
• Mitigation of Orbital Debris in the New Space Age – A Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would comprehensively update the Commission’s orbital debris rules for all Commission-authorized satellites. 
• ViaSat Market Access Request – An Order and Declaratory Ruling that would grant ViaSat’s request for U.S. market access to offer broadband services using a proposed constellation of non-geostationary orbit satellites. 
• Improving Low Power FM Radio – A Report and Order that would modernize the LPFM technical rules to provide more regulatory flexibility for licensees. 
• Expanding Availability of Video Description – A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would propose to expand video description requirements to 40 additional local television markets over  the next four years to increase the accessibility of programming to blind and visually impaired Americans.

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.