California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Phase 2 of Operation Robocall Roundup, a multistate investigation targeting four major voice service providers—Inteliquent, Bandwidth, Peerless, and Lumen—for routing suspected illegal robocalls. The Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force sent warning letters demanding they stop transmitting such calls, following Phase 1 which already led to some providers being removed from the FCC's database. The AG emphasized that these companies have a heightened responsibility to block call traffic from known bad actors.
The providers were directed to immediately stop transmitting suspected illegal robocalls across their networks.
In-house legal teams should review all vendor and customer agreements with voice service providers or telecommunications carriers, focusing on clauses related to compliance with telemarketing laws (e.g., TCPA), call routing restrictions, audit rights, and termination for non-compliance. Specific attention should be paid to requirements for blocking or filtering suspected illegal robocalls, cooperation with traceback investigations, and reporting obligations. Agreements may need amendments to mandate proactive monitoring, immediate cessation of transmitting flagged call traffic, and indemnification for violations arising from the provider's network.
Entity
Inteliquent, Bandwidth, Peerless, Lumen
Industry
TelecommunicationsOfficial Press Release
https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/it-bird-or-plane-it%E2%80%99s-robocall-task-force
https://ncdoj.gov/protecting-consumers/telephones-telemarketing/fighting-robocalls/warning-notices/
robocall task force strikes again attorney general bonta lau
https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/robocall-task-force-strikes-again-attorney-general-bonta-launches-operation
California Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/privacy-enforcement-actions
"Inteliquent"
"Bandwidth"
"Peerless"
"Lumen"
"suspected illegal robocalls"
"warning letters"