AT&T Supports FCC Fight Against Robocalls, Executive Says; TCPA Argument Set

Wheeler on robocalls (see 1607220061). AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson agreed to chair a new Robocalling Strike Force "to accelerate the development and adoption of new tools and solutions to abate the proliferation of robocalls and to make recommendations to the FCC on the role government can play in this battle," Quinn said. AT&T will “conform to emerging” Internet Engineering Task Force and Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions VoIP “caller ID verification standards as soon as they are available,” Quinn wrote. “AT&T will investigate and adopt, where viable, SS7 [Signaling System 7] solutions associated with VOIP calls, in accordance with adopted verification standards; AT&T will work together with the industry, the standards bodies and through the new task force on a ‘Do Not Originate’ list for the purpose of identifying suspicious calls originating outside of the United States; and AT&T will facilitate efforts by other carriers to adopt call blocking technologies on their networks.” "Since giving consumers meaningful control over the calls and texts they receive will require collective action by the industry; I am gratified that AT&T will lead an industry strike force to develop an action plan for providing consumers with robust robocall-blocking solutions," Wheeler said in a written statement. Meanwhile, oral argument was set for Oct. 19 on litigation over FCC decisions interpreting the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said in a clerk's order (in Pacer) Monday (ACA International v. FCC, No. 15-1211 and consolidated cases). The commission's 2015 declaratory ruling and order allow carriers to offer robocall blocking technology under the TCPA (see 1506180046). On what constitutes an autodialer for the purposes of the law, the FCC rejected most industry requests for an interpretation that companies said would curb TCPA abuse (see 1507130039). Petitioners are challenging aspects of the FCC decision, "including the definition of an automated telephone dialing system, the application of the prior-express consent exception to reassigned wireless numbers, and the rights of consumers to revoke consent," said a commission description of the case in a summary of pending agency litigation. The FCC's autodialer treatment was reasonable and consistent with the statute, the agency's brief argued.