FCC asks telecoms to offer robocall blocking services free to users

In an open letter addressed to the CEOs of major telecommunications companies, Tom Wheeler, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman has called on carriers to take action in making technology to block so-called robocalls available for free to consumers.

The FCC had ruled earlier that telecommunications companies could offer blocking services to their customers against robocalls, that are automated pre-recorded telephone calls often used by scam artists and telemarketers.

However, companies had claimed they  did not possess the authority to implement such a system. In an effort to settle the matter, Wheeler sent out the letters to the telecommunications providers, including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, US Cellular, CenturyLink and Frontier.

"I strongly urge you to offer your customers robust call blocking at no cost," wrote Wheeler in the letters, reiterating that nothing in the rules of the FCC prevented carriers from providing robocall blocking services to their customers.

Then letters do not require the companies to offer blocking and filtering services against robocalls, however it strongly urges them to provide these services to their customers at no extra charge.

While robocalling had virtually stopped with regulations prohibiting the practice, the FCC continued to receive hundreds of thousands of complaints over the calls every year. However most of the calls are now being illegally placed by scammers.

Wheeler wrote on the commission's website, "In regard to the Commission's expectations that carriers respond to consumers' blocking requests, I have sent letters to the CEOs of major wireless and wireline phone companies calling on them to offer call-blocking services to their customers now -- at no cost to you."

He had also sent letters to intermediary carriers, companies that connected calls from internet services like FiOS to carriers' lines. The intermediary carriers have been asked to retain the original caller ID info for calls made through those services, since spammers and scammers typically spoofed their phone numbers.