US agency proposes English proficiency requirement for foreign call centres
The Federal Communications Commission wants to bring call centre jobs back to the US and place guard rails on those that remain abroad
The head of the Federal Communications Commission is taking aim at foreign-based call centres with a proposed English proficiency requirement for overseas employees and limits on the volume of calls they can handle.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said on Wednesday the proposed rules will encourage communications providers regulated by the agency to bring call centre jobs back to the US and place guard rails on the operations that remain abroad.
“Americans get frustrated when they call a US business and end up connecting with a call center located abroad,” Carr said in a statement.
“Language and communications barriers often make it difficult for callers to promptly and efficiently get the results they want. And these foreign-based call centres often create a heightened security risk as well.”
Carr noted that nearly 70 per cent of US businesses outsource at least one department, including customer service and call centre operations, to overseas locations.
He added that foreign call centres have contributed to a major increase in robocalls and have at times used training and infrastructure from legitimate call centres to defraud Americans.