FCC plans robocall scorecard to grade phone companies on spam call blocking

The Federal Communications Commission has announced plans to implement a new rating system designed to evaluate telecommunications companies on their effectiveness in preventing unwanted automated spam calls.

This proposed initiative, known as the robocall mitigation scorecard, aims to grade wireless, landline, and voice-over-IP service providers using performance-based metrics rather than just checking if they completed administrative paperwork. The agency is considering various grading methods, including letter grades, numeric scales, or risk tiers, to help shoppers identify which telecom operators offer the strongest defenses against spoofed and scam calls. To ensure accuracy, the proposed grades would track both the successful blocking of malicious robocalls and the inadvertent filtering of legitimate communications.

To build these scorecards, the regulator is seeking feedback on what types of data to incorporate, such as consumer complaint records, industry traceback statistics, and self-reported figures from telecom providers. Consumer advocacy groups have expressed cautious optimism about the project, noting that public pressure could encourage carriers to bolster their security measures, though they also warned that the effectiveness of the system depends heavily on data transparency and ease of access. Meanwhile, telephone companies are expected to closely monitor and lobby against metrics that could reflect poorly on their operations. By creating a standardized comparison tool, the regulatory body hopes to incentivize industry-wide improvements and empower phone users to make more informed choices when selecting a service provider.