Carriers ask the FCC to drop the robocall scorecard, or score the intermediates too

Comments on the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau’s robocall scorecard proposal (CG Docket No. 26-239) closed September 22, and the three carrier trade associations asked the Bureau not to build it. USTelecom urged it to “consider alternatives to a Scorecard approach,” such as refreshing the 2021 Call Blocking Report, and said rankings would push providers into blocking “that may be unclear under existing Commission authority.” NCTA said a scorecard “would not stop illegal robocalls from entering the voice network” and that the effort belongs on RMD vetting and the IP transition. CTIA said ratings “risk distracting from the collaboration needed” across companies and government.

CTIA’s fallback, if the Bureau goes ahead: an “information card” with no rankings, covering gateway and non-gateway intermediate providers, which it calls “often the upstream entities best positioned” to cut illegal traffic. Nine financial trade associations led by the American Bankers Association ask for the same expansion to originating and intermediate providers, plus an outcome metric: illegally spoofed calls not blocked, as a share of volume. They report bank-impersonation scams up 124% from 2024 to 2025, and two surveyed banks found 40% of calls carrying their numbers were spoofed. The National Consumer Law Center supports the Bureau’s scope: retail providers only.

The carriers oppose being scored and, failing that, want the intermediates scored with them. The Notice already concedes that the Industry Traceback Group data it would score traceback on is not public. Replies are due October 2; watch the Regulatory Watch dispatches as they land.