Alaska’s largest telecoms firm to move call center to PH

GCI is Alaska’s largest telecommunications company.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Alaska’s largest telecommunications company, GCI, is moving its customer call center to the Philippines, to be operated by Tata Consultancy Services, an India-based multinational.

A spokesperson said the move will lower wait times for callers and provide around-the-clock service.

Spokesperson Heather Handyside told The Associated Press 84 of the 142 people working in the center are being offered other jobs within GCI.

She told AP that the company will continue working with the other 58 employees “to identify additional job opportunities that come up between now and November.”

The transition is expected to begin in August and be completed in November, Handyside told the Anchorage Daily News. She said workers who don’t take another job with GCI will get a severance package, said.

GCI employs about 2,000 people statewide in Alaska. Its sale to Liberty Broadband of Colorado was completed last year.

Current GCI call center workers get from 3,000 to 9,000 calls a day, depending on the circumstances, Handyside said. GCI wants calls to be answered within 10 minutes, but current wait times can top an hour and wait times are a top complaint for the company.

While the move will save GCI money, critics wondered if lawmakers and regulators could do more to keep jobs in Alaska.