AT&T has agreed to lead an "industry strike force" to limit robocalls, just a couple of months after its CEO claimed there's just about nothing it can do to block unwanted calls.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said in May that his company doesn't have "permission" or "the appropriate authority" to block robocalls, even though the Federal Communications Commission clearly stated last year that carriers have the "green light" to offer robocall-blocking services to cell phone users. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler last week urged carriers to "offer call-blocking services to their customers now—at no cost to [consumers]," and AT&T has dropped its previous reluctance in response.

In a post titled "Answering the call on robocalling," AT&T Senior VP Bob Quinn yesterday said that Stephenson will chair the new "Robocalling Strike Force, the mission of which will be to accelerate the development and adoption of new tools and solutions to abate the proliferation of robocalls and to make recommendations to the FCC on the role government can play in this battle."

The task force will work with carriers and standards bodies to create a "Do Not Originate” list for identifying suspicious calls originating outside of the United States. As chair of the strike force, AT&T said it will also "facilitate efforts by other carriers to adopt call blocking technologies on their networks."

Additionally, AT&T committed to deploy some new technologies in response to Wheeler's specific requests. AT&T said it will "conform to emerging IETF and ATIS VOIP caller ID verification standards as soon as they are available," and "investigate and adopt, where viable, SS7 solutions associated with VOIP calls."

Today, AT&T customers can use the free Nomorobo call blocking, but only for VoIP landlines and not wireless service or traditional landlines. Nomorobo plans a mobile robocall blocking service for $5 a month, but it's in beta and there's a waiting list.

Wheeler praised AT&T's statement as a step in the right direction and urged the other major phone companies to follow suit.