Echostar Pushes Back Against FCC Proposal to Onshore Call Centers
The company explained that the FCC should not disrupt a system that works well.
WASHINGTON, July 3, 2026 – A major telecommunications company is urging the FCC to keep foreign call centers operating to serve U.S. consumers.
Echostar is pushing back against the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to onshore foreign call centers, saying the agency’s plan would disrupt a system that is functioning well for U.S. consumers.
In a letter to the FCC, the telecommunications company said that the offshore call center market is working and that call center representatives are qualified. “For years, customer demand has driven the call center market to provide superior options to meet customers’ needs,” Echostar said in a letter to the FCC.
Echostar stressed that all centers already have baseline requirements for proficiency in spoken English and call center representatives are highly educated, making the current situation ideal for customer service.
Echostar noted that callers have consistently been satisfied with foreign call centers, with offshore call center representatives consistently performing comparably with onshore representatives on issue resolution and customer satisfaction.
This comes as FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is pushing for the FCC to place a cap on the percentage of calls taken from overseas in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued in March of this year. He previously stated that Americans become frustrated when they are connected to a call center abroad when contacting a U.S. business.
The chairman also is pushing for the FCC to require foreign call centers to inform customers when a call is handled outside the U.S.; ensure call center staff are proficient in American Standard English; give customers the right to transfer foreign calls to the U.S.; and require calls that share sensitive customer data to be taken by only U.S. call centers.
Telecommunication industry groups CTIA, NCTA, USTelecom, ACA Connects and the Competitive Carriers Association have come out against the proposal, urging the FCC to scale back Carr’s plan.
Echostar, an American telecommunications company, is the parent company of Dish Network, Boost Mobile, Sling TV, EchoStar Mobile and Hughes Network Systems.
