Global Contact Center Market Activity | July 2026

Site Selection Group (SSG) tracks global contact center expansions, new openings, consolidations, and downsizing activity through ongoing market research across onshore, nearshore, and offshore locations. Our monthly data is designed to help contact center leaders better understand where the industry is growing, shifting, and recalibrating worldwide.

June 2026 delivered a strong month of announced activity, with more than 9,075 jobs across ten new sites and expansions — and four closures or downsizings on the books. Africa posted its largest single-month jump of the year, with iQor's 5,000-seat new site in New Cairo becoming the biggest announced expansion globally in 2026 so far. The U.S. market showed signs of a split personality: iQor added 1,300 seats across Charlotte and Meridian on one hand, while AT&T transitioned two locations in Louisiana and Georgia to work-from-home models on the other. National Australia Bank continued its Asia-Pacific buildout, expanding simultaneously in India and Vietnam.

Through the first six months of 2026, SSG has tracked more than 38,706 announced jobs across 65 expansions and new sites globally — with 17 closures or downsizings accounting for 5,471 displaced positions. Net new job creation remains firmly positive at more than 33,235 positions for the year.

June 2026 Snapshot

Year-To-Date Performance: January – June 2026

Top Expansion and New Site Announcements

Closures and Downsizing

Regional Highlights

Africa Posts Its Biggest Month of 2026

iQor's 5,000-seat new site in New Cairo is the largest single contact center expansion announced anywhere in the world so far this year. Africa has been one of the fastest-growing global delivery regions for several years now, driven by multilingual talent availability — Arabic, French, and English — competitive cost structures relative to European alternatives, and growing demand from EMEA-based clients for near-time-zone delivery. Afrizone People Intelligence's 1,100-seat new site in Cape Town is further evidence of South Africa's continued pull, particularly for U.K. and European operators looking for English-language capacity. Egypt and South Africa are no longer emerging markets in this context — they are established delivery destinations.

U.S. Market: Growth and Contraction Side by Side

June produced the clearest illustration yet of the bifurcated U.S. contact center market. iQor expanded aggressively — 1,000 seats in Charlotte and 300 seats in Meridian, Mississippi — while AT&T transitioned its Lafayette, Louisiana and Cedartown, Georgia facilities to full work-from-home operations. The workers remained employed; the physical sites did not. JPMorgan downsized 244 positions in Plano, Texas.

The pattern is consistent with what SSG has observed throughout 2026: growth-stage BPOs are selectively adding capacity in lower-cost U.S. Tier 2 markets, while enterprise telecoms and financial services firms are rationalizing their brick-and-mortar footprints. Claim Support Solutions' 400-seat new site in Chandler, Arizona also reflects this dynamic — a BPO specializing in insurance claims choosing a Southwest suburban market that offers workforce availability and below-average turnover relative to major metros.

Asia-Pacific: National Australia Bank Expands on Two Fronts

National Australia Bank's simultaneous 500-seat expansions in India and Ho Chi Minh City signal a deliberate dual-shore strategy — diversifying delivery risk while maintaining cost efficiency. Vietnam continues to attract financial services operators who want English-bilingual talent, improving infrastructure, and proximity to APAC time zones. India remains the anchor for enterprise-scale back-office and customer operations at virtually any level of complexity.

Caribbean: Two More BPO Entrants Added

Trinidad & Tobago picked up two new contact center commitments in June — Bill Gosling Outsourcing expanding in Arouca and Singlepoint opening a new site in Chaguanas. The Caribbean as a nearshore subregion has seen steady accumulation of smaller-scale BPO wins throughout 2026, driven by English fluency, cultural alignment with the U.S. market, and competitive labor costs. These are not headline-volume announcements, but they represent the continued maturing of the Caribbean as a credible nearshore alternative for mid-market clients.

Central Asia: Telecontact Expands in Uzbekistan

Telecontact's expansion in Uzbekistan — job count undisclosed — is a reminder that Eastern Europe and Central Asia continue to attract BPO investment beyond the more established markets of Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. Uzbekistan offers Russian- and Uzbek-language capacity with a labor cost profile well below EU alternatives, and operators serving Russian-speaking client bases have increasingly looked east as the geopolitical map has shifted.

What It Means for Contact Center Leaders

June reinforces several themes that have defined 2026 so far:

• Africa is one of the most active global delivery regions. The iQor and Afrizone announcements are the latest chapter in a sustained story of investment, not a turning point. Executives who have not yet evaluated Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, or Morocco as delivery options are behind the curve.
• The U.S. market is splitting into winners and losers. Growth-stage BPOs in Tier 2 markets are adding capacity. Enterprise telecoms and financial services firms are rationalizing brick-and-mortar footprints, often converting to WFH rather than eliminating positions altogether. The net effect on domestic employment is roughly flat — but the composition of who is operating and where is shifting.
• Dual-shore strategies are becoming standard. NAB's simultaneous India and Vietnam expansions reflect a broader pattern: operators and corporate clients are diversifying across two or more delivery markets rather than concentrating in a single offshore hub.
• The Caribbean nearshore is accumulating wins quietly. Trinidad & Tobago's two-site month is not unusual for a single country in 2026 — and the cumulative effect is a region building critical mass as a U.S.-facing nearshore option for mid-market clients.

Conclusion

Site Selection Group tracks global contact center openings, expansions, consolidations, and labor market shifts each month to help companies understand where the industry is growing, evolving, and becoming more competitive. Our research spans onshore, nearshore, and offshore markets to provide timely insight into location trends shaping the contact center industry.

If your organization is evaluating contact center location strategy, outsourcing opportunities, labor market conditions, or portfolio optimization, our team is available to help you make informed decisions. SSG operates exclusively on behalf of corporate clients — we never represent landlords or outsourcing providers — so our advisory is always conflict-free.