The FCC's robocall scorecard would rate only the providers at the end of the call path

The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau released a public notice on September 2 seeking comment on a public-facing robocall mitigation scorecard (CG Docket No. 26-239, DA 26-932). It proposes rating only domestic voice service providers with retail customers — wireless, wireline, VoIP, including hybrid networks — and excluding wholesale, gateway and non-gateway intermediate providers that do not bill consumers directly. The Bureau states this “is not a rulemaking that will result in new rules or requirements for voice service providers.” Comments are due September 22, replies October 2.

The notice splits metrics into two categories. Conduct-based: consumer-facing blocking and labeling tools, network blocking and labeling efforts, traceback responsiveness, and attestation of SIP calls. Outcome-based: complaints filed with the FCC and FTC, blocked-call volume paired with a separate false-positive rate, and trend data on illegal robocalls reaching a provider’s subscribers. Named data sources include RMD filings, provider blocking practices, the FCC Consumer Complaints Center, enforcement actions, Industry Traceback Group data, and FTC complaint data. A footnote concedes the ITG’s underlying data “is not independently available/accessible to the public,” and that Consumer Sentinel records are accessible only to law enforcement.

TransNexus, which sells STIR/SHAKEN and call analytics software, put the scope exclusion at the center of its response on September 10. Its most recent statistics found 54.8% of calls at termination carried intact STIR/SHAKEN information, with the loss usually caused by a non-IP segment somewhere upstream. A terminating provider graded on outcomes has less signal to work with and no control over the hop that stripped it, and the incentive that creates is to block unsigned calls. TransNexus also notes that the Registered Traceback Consortium does not investigate every request, prioritizing by expected consumer impact, which makes traceback responsiveness a partly random input to a score.

The Bureau asks how to build rating criteria “without inherently disadvantaging any particular provider” and in the same notice proposes measuring only the providers at the end of the call path.

Comments land in CG Docket No. 26-239 on September 22; watch the Regulatory Watch dispatches as they come in.