FCC to publish carrier ratings for robocall blocking effectiveness

The Federal Communications Commission announced a plan to create a scorecard rating phone companies on their success at blocking illegal robocalls. The scorecard may incorporate call-blocking statistics, customer complaint data, and enforcement actions, with providers graded on a numeric scale, letter grades, or risk categories. The initiative aims to give consumers more transparency and push carriers to strengthen their anti-spam efforts.

The scorecard would apply to domestic voice providers serving retail customers, excluding wholesale-only carriers. The FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau issued the public notice, and the commission is now soliciting public comment on which data sources should inform the ratings. Commissioner Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the commission, indicated the tool's value depends on selecting appropriate metrics.

This initiative follows the FCC's existing broadband label requirement, which mandates pricing transparency for Internet providers, though Chairman Brendan Carr recently led a vote to remove discretionary fee disclosure from those labels. Consumer advocate Teresa Murray of PIRG, who published her own provider grading report in February 2025, expressed concern about whether the FCC's chosen data will prove genuinely useful to consumers.