T-Mobile CEO John Legere speaks at CES in 2017. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop)

T-Mobile is teaming up with Comcast to detect robocalls between the two networks, the companies announced Wednesday. The partnership is in response to FCC pressure and customer frustration over ballooning spam calls, which reached an all-time high in 2017.

Customers placing calls between T-Mobile and Comcast’s home voice service (on certain devices) will see whether the caller is verified as a human. The new spam detection tools are available for T-Mobile customers across 10 smartphones today and will roll out to Comcast customers later this year.

“Robocalls and spam calls are an industry-wide problem, and we’ve got to join forces to keep consumers protected,” said T-Mobile CEO John Legere in a statement.

The new authentication tools were developed following FCC standards for spam calls known as STIR/SHAKEN. It’s a process by which calls going through airwaves are identified by the originating carrier as authentic and then validated by other carriers before reaching consumers.

In 2018, the FCC ordered the telephone industry to implement authentication standards to combat robocalls. AT&T has also partnered with Comcast to implement the protocals but hasn’t rolled out its new authentication tools yet.

T-Mobile’s compliance comes as the company seeks regulatory approval from the FCC on its proposed merger with Sprint.

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