COLUMBUS (AP) — A voicemail provider says Columbus and central Ohio lead the nation in generating robocalls from bill collectors, politicians and other sources.

Statistics from voicemail provider YouMail Inc. show Columbus was the top city for sending out the calls in December, with 68.9 million calls recorded. That outpaced second-place Kansas City’s 42.1 million calls. The company tallies which cities send and receive the most robocalls.

The Columbus Dispatch reports there are several reasons why Columbus leads the way in annoying people by phone. There are lots of call centers for large financial institutions that handle credit cards for third-party retailers. The area also is home base for a lot of telemarketers.

Columbus ranks 26th in receiving such calls. Atlanta was tops last month with 59.8 million calls received.