May 14, 2025
FCC Demands Stricter Robocall Reporting Transparency
The fight to eliminate robocalls has made a lot of progress, but some of these calls still manage to reach consumers. The FCC is taking these threats seriously, though. As such, it has updated its robocall reporting rules to demand more transparency from telecom service providers.
By holding telecom service providers accountable, there’s a good chance that the FCC and industry leaders can move closer to fully eliminating robocalls.
FCC Requires Greater Telecom Transparency
The FCC has implemented a growing number of tools in its effort to combat robocalls. Unfortunately, telecom service providers don’t always take advantage of these tools, leading to gaps in effectiveness and enforcement.
For example, a 2024 political dialing campaign targeting New Hampshire residents used artificial intelligence (AI) to spoof President Joe Biden’s voice. The message encouraged voters not to participate in the upcoming election. The robocall campaign also spoofed numbers when calling constituents.
Despite these obvious issues, the calls received an A-Attestation rating from Lingo Telecom.
The FCC responded by fining Lingo Telecom $1 million and demanding that Lingo Telecom strictly adhere to the FCC’s caller ID authentication framework.
FCC New RMD Rules
The FCC has also announced that it wants to enforce new rules related to the Reassigned Numbers Database (RMD). The RMD tracks numbers that get assigned to new consumers to prevent the new owners from getting calls intended for previous users.
The FCC’s intended rule changes include:
Update Requirement
All voice service providers (VSPs) must update any changes to their RMD and Commission Registration System (CORES) within 10 business days.
New Fines
All VSPs will face a minimum $1,000 fine when they fail to update information within the 10-day timeline.
VSPs will face baseline $10,000 fines for submitting false or inaccurate information to the RMD.
RMD Filing Fee
VSPs will pay a $100 fee for their first RMD filings.
Annual Certifications
Every year, VSPs must certify that their information is accurate and pay a $100 fee.
Reporting Mechanism
A new system will let the public report false and inaccurate RMD filings, which should help the FCC discover mistakes and identify VSPs that don’t follow procedures.
Two-Factor Authentication
All parties accessing the RMD will now need to follow a two-factor authentication measure to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the database.
What Are Attestation Ratings?
Attestation ratings use the STIR/SHAKEN process to determine the authenticity of a call’s origin. Ideally, this prevents phone number spoofing. While the technology has been highly effective, attestation ratings between carriers aren’t always accurate.
The attestation process can assign one of three levels to a call:
- Full Attestation (A) means the call’s service provider confirms that it gave the customer the phone number and the call originates from the provider’s network.
- Partial Attestation (B) means the call’s service provider confirms that the call originates from its network. The provider did not, however, assign the telephone number to the caller.
- Gateway Attestation (C) means the service provider doesn’t have a relationship with the caller.
Unfortunately, when miscommunication happens between service providers, phone calls often receive an A rating by default. A more secure approach would automatically give questionable calls a C rating.
Similarly, there are instances when calls that should receive A ratings get assigned C ratings. This matters because a C rating can disconnect calls from the authentication methods, so they never reach their intended destinations.
What This Means for Your Business
Inaccurate attestation ratings can make it nearly impossible for you to connect with your customers and leads. When calls have low attestation ratings, they usually get negative labels that warn consumers not to answer. For example, when you call a customer, that person might see “spam likely” on their caller ID screen. The vast majority of people will ignore that call instead of answering, so you miss opportunities to interact with your customers.
Testing Your Calls Attestation
Knowing the importance of attestation ratings, you probably want a way to test your calls to make sure they will reach customers.
Caller ID Reputation’s Attestation Tester makes the process simple. You register your numbers with Caller ID Reputation, and import the numbers to the Call Tester. Caller ID Reputation will analyze your numbers and generate a report that shows the attestation rating for each number.
You also benefit from Device Cloud, a product that sends you screenshots from popular mobile devices connected to real service providers. Since you get real screenshots, you can see precisely what appears on your customers’ caller ID screens. If you see any inaccurate information, including negative labels, you can take steps to remediate the issue. You can also have Caller ID Reputation’s team of remediation experts handle these steps for you.
Would you like to see Caller ID Reputation’s tools in action? Schedule a demo today.
