Robocalls Aren't Going Away: Why Small Carriers Keep the Door Open for Scammers
Internet Telephony, Wednesday, July 30th, 2025
New data from the TNS Half-Year 2025 Robocall Report shows that, despite years of effort (the original deadline for implementation was four years ago), robocalls remain a major challenge for the telecom industry. Really, there's no surprise here. We all deal with a constant barrage of robocalls every day.
That's a big reason why many consumers simply ignore the phone these days. On average, Americans received 148.8 million robocalls per day last month (June 2025). That's a preposterous 1,722 calls every second. In just the first four months of the year, robocall volume hit 18.9 billion calls, nearly a 12% increase over 2024.
Here's why the problem persists.
Tier-1 carriers, such as Verizon (News - Alert), AT&T, T-Mobile, Comcast/Lumen, and UScellular have successfully implemented STIR/SHAKEN protocols. That's helped them achieve a reported 84% call signing and verification between them in early 2025. But, calls originating from smaller providers carry valid signatures only 21% of the time.