The Federal Communications Commission yesterday announced it had excommunicated a telecom company for failing to take the necessary steps to block consumers from receiving robocalls, ordering other companies to stop accepting traffic from Global UC.
Global UC was one of six companies warned last month by the FCC that its robocall mitigation practices were deficient and were told to either cure the deficiencies or submit proof that it was not deficient. How did the company respond? By sending the FCC an email saying, “We are not needing this certification.” Grammar issues aside, the FCC called the company’s bluff and removed the company from its Robocall Mitigation Database. The company is to remain on the outside looking in until the cure the deficiencies noted by the FCC, the regulator said.
Global UC is a U.S.-based telecom company that provides automated and long-distance calling capabilities, according to a published report.
“We have reached the point where we are ready to remove companies if they fail to abide by the rules and heed our warnings,” said FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan A. Egal in a statement. “While this is a steep and impactful penalty, it underscores the importance we place on complying with our rules, which are designed to eliminate the ability of bad actors to use the U.S. communications networks to harm consumers.”
The FCC said it is reviewing the answers from the other companies that were warned and will take additional steps as needed.
When it submitted its original certification, Global UC did not “include any specific reasonable steps that it was taking to avoid origination of illegal robocall traffic,” according to the FCC. When the FCC sent an email to Global UC seeking more information, the company did not reply.
