Carriers have been slow to address the growing robocall problem, but the Federal Communications Commission may be about to force their hand. In a letter to fourteen US carriers, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks today called out the confusing and often ineffective options available to consumers for fighting automated spam calls, and threatened regulatory action if the carriers do not improve.

“Despite historically clamoring for new tools, it does not appear that all providers have acted with haste to deploy opt-out robocall blocking services,” Starks told the carriers. “The Commission spoke clearly: we expect opt-out call blocking services to be offered to consumers for free. Reviewing the substance of these responses, by and large,…

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