US agency considers limits on telecom foreign call centers, requiring English proficiency

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

March 4, 2026 5:41 PM EST Updated 11 hours ago


WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission said ​on Wednesday it is considering limits on U.S. telecom firms' ‌use of foreign call centers and requiring foreign-based customer service workers to be proficient in American Standard English.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr said the commission plans to ​vote this month on a proposal to require call takers at ​communications providers to be proficient in American Standard English, whether ⁠to impose limits on call volume from overseas call centers and whether ​to allow consumers to request to transfer calls to a U.S.-based ​location or to require providers to disclose the location of the call center.

Last week, the FCC approved Charter Communications' (CHTR.O) $34.5 billion acquisition of Cox Communications and said Charter will onshore ​all of the job functions currently handled offshore by Cox within ​18 months.

Carr noted that nearly 70% of U.S. businesses outsource at least one ‌department, ⁠including customer service and call center operations, to overseas locations. "As a result, too many Americans have struggled to resolve an issue with a representative due to cultural and language barriers," Carr said, adding foreign customer ​service centers "also raise ​concerns about ⁠protecting consumers' personal information."

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-agency-considers-limits-telecom-foreign-call-centers-requiring-english-2026-03-04/

[Bengus81]

1. Considers?...yeah until the Corporations who run this Country tell you otherwise

Charter who now owns Cox will bring back call centers in the next 18 months? Bet it never happens but I don't care,my last day with that POS Cox is 3/12 for my internet after 24 years.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. I completely missed the Charter buys Cox story conclusion

I think I had heard stuff about it awhile ago but never saw much follow-up as it was carefully buried under an avalanche of 45-manufactured bullshit.

[Bengus81]

3. They actually merged back in May. The Cox billionaire family will only have like a 20% or so stake

in this and Charter will still use their name for now. I'm betting it disappears in the next couple of years. They suck to say the least. Luckily we have a local Company in a small town north of Wichita that started a Fiber optic internet company years ago. Getting hooked up to them in a week. Can't wait.............

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Last spring was probably when I remember seeing something about it

and thinking - YIKES. But then DOGeshit was underway and it got drowned out.

[droidamus2]

13. Or...

The other possibility is the current management fully intends to do this and then when management changes in the future they ship the jobs back overseas. Thus happened to me. The company that did medical office and hospital software out 30 of us through 9 weeks of paid training to be network software technicians. We stated at 35000/year and after our first year we were all up to $55000/year. The stockholders did not like paying labor that much so they pushed the progressive minded CEO out and after three years shipped all the jobs to India. They even had us train our replacements.

[OC375]

4. Or... quit outsourcing jobs!

Corporate jobs are more than just money generators for RMDs. All corp employees need to unionize before all their jobs are gone. IT, Admin, CS jobs are all pawns to swap around for shareholders return.

[nuxvomica]

5. Ironically, the first sentence is badly written

Upon reading it, I thought the FCC was placing limits on firms' requiring foreign-based customer service workers to be proficient in American Standard English.

[mdbl]

6. Carr is worthless.

How about figuring out how to identify incoming calls from foreign scammers? That would be more helpful.

[PSPS]

10. The FCC never got around to enforcing their shake/stir cleanup mandate of spoofing caller-ID

[mdbl]

14. Because they are useless.

And at this point, a BIIIIG waste of taxpayer money.

[jmbar2]

8. They won't insource - Hello AI

I suspect this is Carr trying to make the quiet shift to AI call centers look pro-worker. Sneaky.

[cstanleytech]

9. AI has limits on what it can do but if it's better than their current method I might welcome it.

You know, the one where you are put on hold for 2 or more hours until you hear the dreaded disconnection.

[jmbar2]

11. Could definitely see mass replacements in government functions like Soc Security, IRS.

I'd prefer to talk to experienced human beings.

[mathematic]

12. Gaurantee call center employees have English proficiency better than avg. They simply have an accent.

Is this exam going to test that people sound like a white midwesterner? Because a lot of americans won't pass that exam too.