By Erick US FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has proposed early this month that call centers used by American companies should be fully based in the US of A. There are so many things wrong with this that it deserves its own blog post where I break it down in just-enough detail.
Who is Carr and What is the FCC?
Brendan Carr is the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, which is the US Government’s arm tasked with regulating telecom providers / airwaves in the US. Carr became the chairman during Donald Trump’s second term, allegedly handpicked by Trump itself.
And that’s where the first problem is instantly obvious. I mean, just look at this video:
Shoutout to my favourite tech podcast (apart from my own, hehe) – Vergecast which has its own “podcast within a podcast” titled “Brendan Carr is a Dummy” which has been running since Carr became the FCC Chairman.
Where are Call Centres Located?
India and the Philippines. I wrote about this extensively in the beginning of my latest TWITI post. Basically there are atleast 2 million call takers / employees across more than 2,750 call centers in these two countries. And these are not the only two countries – there are call centres in South and Central American countries too, some offering specifically Spanish language support.
The Philippines is widely regarded as the top hub for voice-related services (talking in English), while India remains a dominant leader in IT, analytics, and complex support. That’s where we got our “tech support” stereotype from.
Who Uses These Call Centers?
Every Fortune 500 company. Every one of them. Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Telstra, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, HSBC Holdings, American Express, Expedia, Booking.com, Target, and many more.
Why Would These Companies Even Pay Minimum US Wage?
So the proposal from the FCC that’s supposed to be discussed and voted on soon, is that all these 2+ million call taker jobs should be located within the United States, and speak “American grade English”.
First of all, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Hah. Also what the hell is American Grade English?
Secondly, we are talking about atleast 2 million jobs that need to be located in the US. While the federal minimum wage remains $7.25 per hour, the average effective minimum wage across the U.S. is higher due to state-level laws, reaching approximately $8.90 to $9.33 by early 2026. Many states have rates exceeding $15, although 13 states still adhere to the federal minimum. And typically, telco and finance companies need a team of more call takers because of the volume of calls. Also, the FCC proposal does not specify whether these call takers will need to be employed by the ultimate client or by agencies / companies incorporated in the US.
That’s a lot of money – potentially millions in additional cost – for the largest companies. Which brings us to thirdly – companies with AI the s*it out of call center requirements. What I mean is that companies – even very large ones – would rather have a mediocre AI bot accept calls rather than pay full wages to hundreds and thousands of employees. And customers will hate talking to AI -atleast for this and the next couple of years until AI development leapfrogs. And there will be complaints to the FCC about excessive use of AI to answer calls that should be answered by a human.
But if they call the FCC’s helpline, will a human pick up?
What Will Happen to These Call Centers Then?
So assuming this proposal passes and is implemented overnight – which is a senseless decision the current Trump administration may take without surprises – the call centers will have to shut overnight. That’s it. The amount of business from other English speaking nations is nowhere near what US companies provide and pay for. And it’s not like 2 million employees can learn a new language overnight. So they’ll have to shut.
Or…. I have another idea but it involves scamming, so I won’t say it out.