By David Shepardson

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’ $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.”

Verizon said it is aware of the item and is now reviewing it. AT&T and T-Mobile did not immediately comment.

The FCC is seeking comments on the extent of its legal authority and applicability of rules to foreign call centers operated by communications providers regulated by the agency.

Carr said foreign call centers have contributed to a major increase of robocalls and have at times used training and infrastructure from legitimate call centers to defraud Americans.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter)

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