Dozen Phone Companies Pledge New Tech To Fight Robocalls

Indiana's attorney general is among those leading a new agreement with phone companies to stop annoying robocalls.

(Washington, D.C.) - A dozen of the nation's biggest phone companies are pledging to use new technology to spot and block robocalls. 

Officials estimate there were 4.7 billion of the annoying robocalls made to American phones in July alone. 

The promise announced Thursday is part of an agreement the phone companies made with 51 attorneys general. Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill says phone companies are stepping up to the plate to be part of the solution.

“Collaboration will be a key component of our success going forward in stopping illegal robocalls. I am eager to continue working with our state, federal, and private-sector partners to improve the lives of all our citizens,” Attorney General Hill said.

The coalition of companies includes many of the largest telecom companies in the nation, such as AT&T, Bandwidth, CenturyLink, Charter, Comcast, Consolidated, Frontier, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Verizon and Windstream. 

The agreement calls for the phone companies to implement call-blocking technology and provide free robocall blocking tools to consumers. It would also let people know if the incoming call is real or coming from a spoofed phone number. 

The companies do not have a deadline to implement the new technology, but are expected to do so as soon as practical.