Comcast plans to shutter a Fort Collins, Colorado call center in December, less than three years after it was launched at a reported cost of $10 million.
About 237 workers will be impacted by the facility’s closing, local paper the Coloradoan said. Opening of the Fort Collins facility was announced in February 2017, amid Comcast’s $300 million pledge to improve its flagging customer service reputation.
As the Coloradoan pointed out, the move comes just days after Fort Collins launched Connexion, a new municipal broadband service.
Leslie Oliver, a spokesperson for Comcast's Mountain West Region, said the move has nothing to do with the city's broadband project.
Notably, Comcast just this week announced the opening of a three-floor, 150,000-square-foot call center in Delaware.
Comcast said the 237 affected Fort Collins workers would be eligible to work from home or apply to other jobs within the company. When first announced, it was reported the facility would house around 600 workers.
"It sounds like the company has been experimenting with models around the country to figure out how to keep customer service high at a time when it's hard to find enough employees," said Fort Collins Chamber President and CEO David May, to the Coloradoan. ”We’re having similar discussions with other companies almost every day."
May said he doesn’t believe Comcast’s decision had anything to do with muni broadband. ”It's just coincidental," he said.
