June 14, 2010, Washington, DC – Recently, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) filed comments related to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proposed revisions to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act‘s (TCPA) treatment of prerecorded telemarketing calls (“robocalls”).

In its comments, ATIS noted the negative impact which “robocalls” can have on telecommunications networks. Specifically, large volumes of “robocalls” can result in network congestion, which has serious implications for first responders and the larger public safety community. In order to combat this congestion, the FCC should take steps to accommodate telecommunications providers’ reasonable need to manage their networks.

Further, ATIS believes that the FCC should encourage auto-dialer users, providers, and vendors to work in cooperation with telecommunication service providers. This collaboration would result in information exchange– including call management guidelines – which will ultimately lessen the network impacts of these calls. Additionally, the filing encourages the FCC to consider establishing a registration process between and amongst telecommunications service providers and auto-dialers.

The filing also highlighted some of ATIS’ related work. For example, ATIS’ Next Generation Interconnection Interoperability Forum (NGIIF) has been actively developing auto-dialer technical guidelines. These guidelines address auto-dialers’ mass-calling capabilities, and their corresponding impacts (e.g. network congestion) on telecommunications systems. Materially, these guidelines will help telecommunications service providers maximize call completion, maintain a robust network, and simultaneously allow effective performance of legitimate auto-dialer services.

“Going forward, the FCC should encourage the auto-dialer community to work cooperatively with telecommunication service providers,” said Susan Miller, ATIS’ President and CEO. “Such a partnership would promote the network’s reliability, and ultimately provide the best end-user experience.”

About ATIS
ATIS is the leading technical planning and standards development organization committed to the rapid development of global, market-driven standards for the information, entertainment and communications industry. More than 250 companies actively formulate standards in ATIS’ 18 Committees, covering issues including: IPTV, Service Oriented Networks, Energy Efficiency, IP-Based and Wireless Technologies, Quality of Service, Billing and Operational Support. In addition, numerous Incubators, Focus and Exploratory Groups address emerging industry priorities including “Green”, IP Downloadable Security, Next Generation Carrier Interconnect, IPv6 and Convergence.

ATIS is the North American Organizational Partner for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a member and major U.S. contributor to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Radio and Telecommunications’ Sectors, and a member of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). For more information, please visit www.atis.org.