The FCC has announced the tentative agenda for the March 26, 2026 Open Commission Meeting. Below we discuss two of the agenda items that will be addressed by the Commission.
The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes a range of actions to address problems with offshore call centers, including actions to encourage and facilitate onshoring of call centers and strengthening accountability. In a statement by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, he cites that nearly 70 percent of U.S. businesses outsource at least one department, including customer service and call center operations abroad resulting in U.S. consumers struggling to resolve issues with a representative due to cultural and language barriers. He further states that overseas customer service centers also raise concerns about protecting consumers’ personal information and have also contributed to the rampant influx of overseas scam calls. The NPRM will propose reforms that can encourage businesses to bring call center operations back to the U.S. Also, the NPRM will explore ways to improve customer service at existing call centers, including a proposal to require service representatives to be proficient in American Standard English. Further, the NPRM addresses illegal robocalls that originate abroad by seeking comment on the targeted use of tariffs or bonds. These proposals focus on the customer service centers operated by communications providers regulated by the FCC.
In the 2/27/26 edition of the ICORE Blog we discussed an NPRM issued by the FCC in July, 2025 proposing steps to accelerate the transition to modern high-speed networks while safeguarding consumers’ access to emergency services such as 911. At its March Open Meeting, the Commission will vote on a Report and Order (Order) addressing the issues raised in the NPRM. If adopted the Order would eliminate the filing requirements associated with the FCC’s rules implementing Section 251(c)(5)’s network change disclosure mandate and would streamline the rules applicable to technology transitions discontinuance applications under Section 214. The Order would further grant blanket Section 214(a) authority for carriers to grandfather legacy voice services, lower-speed data communications services, and interconnected VoIP service provisioned over copper facilities. Also, the Order eliminates other rule provisions that are rendered irrelevant. Finally, the Order finds that federal law preempts any state or local requirements that, either by law or practice, have the effect of continuing to require carriers to provide legacy voice services in an area where carriers have obtained FCC authorization under Section 214(a) of the Act to discontinue the legacy service in question or where carriers have been discouraged from seeking such FCC authorization.
Finally, a quick update on other FCC issues previously discussed on this site. In recent weeks, Reply Comments have been filed with the Commission related to the NPRM on Broadband Labels (see ICORE Blog dated 2/11/26) and the NPRM examining the interconnection requirements imposed on ILECs in Section 251(c)(2) and (c)(6) (see ICORE Blog dated 2/6/26). Reply comments were filed in these proceedings by industry advocates as well as organizations advocating for consumers. Our review of the Reply Comments indicates that the comments filed in the Reply Comment round are consistent with those filed by responders in the initial Comments that were discussed in the previous editions of the ICORE Blog. We will now await further action by the FCC regarding these NPRMs.
We fully expect that the Commission will adopt the Report and Order discussed above regarding the transition to high-speed networks at its March Open Meeting as well as the NPRM related to call centers. We will continue to monitor these issues as well as the NPRMs on Broadband Labels and ILEC interconnection requirements discussed above and will provide updates as more information becomes available.
