TCPA Outbound Voice 2026: What the FCC Has Proposed

Reviewed for operational accuracy by Miki Furman, Founder and CEO.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (47 U.S.C. section 227) has been the foundation of US outbound voice compliance for more than three decades, and the FCC's 2003 implementing rules built the operational scaffolding on top of it. Those rules still set the consent, calling-time and do-not-call duties for outbound voice. What is new in 2026 is a proposal about where agents sit. In March 2026 the FCC proposed rules for customer service calls that communications providers handle outside the United States, and the notice was filed in several dockets, including CG Docket 02-278, the FCC's main TCPA docket, which is why it is sometimes described as a 02-278 rule. It is a proposal, not a rule. For buyers running a fronter (offshore agents who pre-qualify and warm-transfer to the client's licensed US closers, not licensed agents themselves) or full offshore outbound program, this piece covers what the proposal says, how it would treat nearshore and offshore teams, what is already in force, and what to ask vendors now.

What the FCC has proposed in FCC 26-16

In FCC 26-16, a notice of proposed rulemaking adopted March 26, 2026, released March 27 and published in the Federal Register on April 23, 2026, the FCC proposed rules for telecommunications carriers, wireless providers, interconnected VoIP providers, cable and satellite TV providers and their affiliates that use customer representatives located outside the United States. The lead docket is CG Docket 26-52; the notice was also filed in CG Dockets 17-59, 02-278 and 22-2. As proposed, a covered provider would have to:

• Disclose at the start of the call. Tell customers at the start of each call that a representative outside the United States is handling it, and that they can ask for a transfer to a US-based representative.
• Transfer on request. Move the call to a US-based representative when the customer asks.
• Meet an English standard. Ensure offshore representatives are proficient in spoken and written American Standard English.
• Cap the offshore share. Keep the share of calls handled outside the United States under a percentage cap. The proposal leaves the figure blank.
• Keep sensitive calls onshore. Route calls involving sensitive account or financial information to US-based representatives, and not use representatives in foreign adversary nations.
• Track and report. Track and report compliance with these requirements.

The FCC also asked whether some or all of these rules should reach other kinds of companies. After a one-week extension, comments closed June 2, 2026 and reply comments closed June 29, 2026. No final rule from this proceeding had been published in the Federal Register as of October 11, 2026. Until one is, the notice does not create a disclosure obligation for anyone. For outbound sellers outside the communications sector, the open question is whether a final rule would reach them at all. Check the current docket before treating a proposal as an adopted requirement.

How the proposal would treat nearshore and offshore teams

As proposed, the rules would cover any representative outside the United States, Caribbean nearshore included. FCC 26-16 draws no line between a nearshore team in Jamaica or Colombia and a far-offshore team in the Philippines or India. Treat any vendor claim that nearshore delivery is exempt, or treated differently under the proposal, as unsupported. If a final rule reached a client's industry, Call Force Global's Caribbean and Colombian teams would be covered on the same terms as any other location outside the United States.

What differs by location is operational, not legal. Two points are worth checking with any vendor:

• English delivery. The proposal would require offshore representatives to be proficient in spoken and written American Standard English. Caribbean labor markets in Jamaica, Trinidad, and Belize are English-first, which makes a verbatim opening script easier to deliver consistently. Wherever agents sit, ask the vendor how it tests spoken English at hiring and scores script delivery in QA.
• Transfer path. A start-of-call notice paired with a transfer offer only works if there is a US-based team to take the transfer. Programs that already warm-transfer to US staff have that path. Programs that run end to end offshore would need to build one if a final rule reached them.

Neither point makes one location safer than another under current law. Offshore delivery is not a safe harbor: the TCPA's autodialer and prerecorded-voice restrictions in 47 U.S.C. section 227(b) apply to "any person outside the United States if the recipient is within the United States." Run consent, calling-time and do-not-call controls the same way wherever the agent sits.

What is already in force for outbound voice

The offshore proposal is not the only FCC item buyers hear about. Three others are settled, and one more is still a proposal.

• Consent revocation. The FCC's February 2024 order (FCC 24-24, CG Docket 02-278) made clear that consumers can revoke consent in any reasonable manner and that callers must honor the request within 10 business days; those rules took effect April 11, 2025.
• AI-generated voices. The FCC's February 2024 Declaratory Ruling (FCC 24-17) confirmed that AI-generated voices count as an "artificial or prerecorded voice" under the TCPA, so those calls need the same prior express consent. A separate August 2024 proposal (FCC 24-84, published in the Federal Register on September 10, 2024) would define AI-generated calls and require callers to disclose them; no final rule had been published as of October 11, 2026.
• One-to-one consent. The FCC's 2023 one-to-one consent rule is not in force. The Eleventh Circuit vacated it on January 24, 2025, and FCC Order DA 25-621 (July 14, 2025) removed it.

What procurement and general counsel can do now

None of the steps below is a legal requirement created by FCC 26-16. They are practice, and several of them produce the records a final rule could ask for. Calling-hour windows remain a basic FCC rule alongside them; for the standalone reference, see our FCC call time rules for outbound voice guide.

1. Agent location in writing. Get each vendor to state in writing which country every agent on the program sits in, by campaign.
2. A decision on a voluntary location line. Decide whether to use a voluntary location disclosure in the opening script. If you use one, script it and score it in QA, for example: Some of our customer service agents may be located outside the United States.
3. Truthful answers when asked. Train agents to answer truthfully if a consumer asks where they are located. This is practice, not a federal rule.
4. Consent capture, revocation and retention. Is consent captured against the standards under 47 U.S.C. section 227 and the 2003 implementing rules, with auditable records (timestamp, method, source, recording)? Are revocation requests honored within 10 business days?
5. Onshore-offshore split. What portion of the call sits offshore versus inside the US licensed perimeter? Where does pre-qualification end and licensed handling begin, and is there a transfer path to US-based staff?
6. Suppression and Do-Not-Call hygiene. Is the vendor's suppression list synchronized with internal and federal DNC obligations across all channels (voice, email, SMS)?

Keep the records a final rule could ask for: agent location by campaign and any transfer path to US staff. Watch CG Docket 26-52 for a final order, and confirm state rules and the plan with counsel.

A vendor that cannot put agent locations and consent records in writing within 48 hours has not done the work. Compliance maturity is uneven across the outsourced voice market, which is why procurement diligence, not a vendor's marketing claim, is the lever that closes the gap.

Ask for artifacts rather than assurances. A sample consent record showing the exact disclosure language, the timestamp, the IP or call recording it came from, and how long it is retained. The scrub log for a recent campaign day, showing when the list was checked against the national and internal do-not-call registries and by whom. The revocation path, including how quickly an opt-out propagates to every dialer and list in use. A vendor holding real controls can produce those inside two days, because they are byproducts of running the program, not documents that need writing.

What the fronter model does to your TCPA exposure

The fronter model splits the call at the point where licensing begins. Call Force Global agents pre-qualify offshore and warm-transfer to the client's licensed US closers. The offshore side handles only unregulated pre-qualification: confirming consumer intent, gathering basic eligibility signals, validating callback consent, and warming the consumer for the licensed agent. Regulated handling (rate quotes, plan enrollment, binding adjustments, anything requiring AHIP, NAIC, or state licensure) sits with the client's US licensed agents on the receiving end of the warm transfer.

The compliance effect is structural, not cosmetic. The surface area where offshore activity touches regulated conduct is narrowed to pre-qualification, and the regulated edge stays inside the US licensed perimeter where it has always belonged. The model does not take the offshore part of the call outside FCC 26-16 as proposed: if a final rule reached the client's industry, the pre-qualification leg would still be handled by a representative outside the United States. What it does provide is a working warm-transfer path to US-based staff, which is one of the mechanics the proposal describes.

We are not licensed. Our agents are fronters, not insurance agents, not Medicare advisors, not debt collectors of record. We pre-qualify remotely from Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Guyana, and Colombia, with HQ in Toronto. The licensed closing handoff stays with the client. The Call Force Global outsourcing calculator models the cost split. Industry sources (Bureau of Labor Statistics contact-center wage data) put fully-loaded US in-house seat cost $35,000 to $75,000 per seat per year above Caribbean nearshore for equivalent pre-qualification work, before factoring compliance load. For a fuller breakdown of offshore customer service cost per agent in 2024 and 2025 across geographies, see our call center outsourcing cost reference. For how the offshore fronter team gets TCPA-trained before going live, see our outsourced TCPA training program for voice agents in 2026.

Sources

1. Federal Communications Commission. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Improving Customer Service and Protecting Consumers Through Onshoring, FCC 26-16, CG Docket No. 26-52 (adopted March 26, 2026; a proposal, not a final rule).
2. Federal Register. Improving Customer Service and Protecting Consumers Through Onshoring, 91 FR 21761, April 23, 2026 (FR Doc. 2026-07960).
3. Federal Communications Commission. Order, DA 26-510, May 21, 2026. Extended the FCC 26-16 comment dates to June 2 and June 29, 2026.
4. Federal Communications Commission. Report and Order, Strengthening the Ability of Consumers To Stop Robocalls, FCC 24-24, CG Docket No. 02-278 (adopted February 15, 2024). Effective-date notice, Federal Register, October 11, 2024.
5. Federal Communications Commission. Declaratory Ruling, FCC 24-17, CG Docket No. 23-362 (adopted February 2, 2024). AI-generated voices are an artificial or prerecorded voice under the TCPA.
6. Federal Communications Commission. Implications of Artificial Intelligence Technologies on Protecting Consumers From Unwanted Robocalls and Robotexts, FCC 24-84, notice of proposed rulemaking, Federal Register, September 10, 2024 (a proposal, not a final rule).
7. United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Insurance Marketing Coalition Limited v. FCC, No. 24-10277, January 24, 2025.
8. Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, codified at 47 U.S.C. section 227.
9. Federal Communications Commission. Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. 2003 implementing rules.
10. US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational employment and wage data, contact center categories.

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