FCC’s Carr praises AT&T pledge to bring customer care onshore
- FCC Chairman Brendan Carr praised AT&T’s pledge to bring customer care roles to U.S. employees.
- AT&T made the commitment in a blog post a day before Carr’s remarks.
- The FCC has proposed limiting the share of customer service calls handled outside the U.S.
- Charter moved all its call centers stateside after its 2016 Time Warner Cable deal.
WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES — Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr has praised AT&T for pledging to bring customer care roles to employees in the U.S. The praise comes as the agency weighs a proposal to limit the share of customer service calls that can be handled at call centers outside the country.
Carr: ‘a great sign’
Carr made the comments after the FCC’s Thursday meeting, Cablefax reported on Oct. 29.
“A lot of times, people feel very frustrated when they get calls transferred overseas. They have a lot of difficulty getting problems resolved. I think this is an efficient and good win, but also a great sign for onshoring of jobs,” Carr said.
AT&T made the commitment in a blog post on Wednesday. It described the move as part of a broader effort across the company “to reduce our reliance on contractors where possible,” Cablefax reported.
A rule the industry opposes
The FCC has proposed a uniform set of requirements for offshore call centers, including a limit on the percentage of customer service calls that can be handled at locations outside the U.S. Industry stakeholders have largely opposed it, arguing that it falls outside the FCC’s authority.
OA has reported that the FCC first floated the limits in a draft proposal in March, with a starting cap of 30% on calls handled abroad. The plan drew broad industry opposition when its comment period closed in late May.
In a letter OA reported on Sept. 30, Senators Ruben Gallego and Jim Justice backed the proposed rule. They asked that call centers disclose the country where each agent is located.
Cable moved first
AT&T is not the first U.S. operator to bring call centers home. Charter moved all of its call centers stateside after its acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House in 2016, and it has pledged to do the same for Cox Communications.
What it means for buyers
AT&T’s pledge comes while the FCC rule is still a proposal, and Carr has held it up as a sign of the onshoring he wants to see.
For business process outsourcing (BPO) providers running offshore call center programs for U.S. telecom clients, both point toward more work moving back to the U.S. Buyers can compare providers with onshore and offshore delivery on the top BPO companies worldwide list.
Related news
- Chile’s Senate weighs ban on offshore call center outsourcing · 20 Oct 2026
- Gallego, Justice back FCC push to onshore call center jobs · 30 Sep 2026
- FCC’s onshore call center push draws broad industry opposition · 4 Jun 2026
Disclosure: Outsource Accelerator uses AI tools in the backend of its editorial workflow. Every article is reviewed and verified by a human editor before publication.
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