Spanish outsourcing company ABAI has taken over Atento’s business in Morocco, adding an established customer service centre in Tangier to its international network. The deal is part of ABAI’s acquisition of Atento’s business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which was announced in November 2025 and completed this year after receiving approval from Spanish regulators.
As part of the deal, Atento’s Moroccan subsidiary has changed its name to Abai Teleservicios. The company will continue operating from its existing office in Tangier.
Instead of opening a new site, ABAI has taken over a business that has worked mainly with Spanish clients for several years. The wider acquisition also includes some of Atento’s operations in Colombia that support customers in Spain.
The deal makes ABAI much bigger. The company now operates in 20 markets, has 24 service centres, and employs nearly 18,000 people.
ABAI provides customer support by phone, chat, social media and messaging apps. It also offers back office services, automation, artificial intelligence and data analytics.
Atento said the sale is part of its plan to focus on its main markets in the United States and Latin America. The company also wants to invest more in artificial intelligence, automation and data analysis.
Morocco will continue to play an important role in ABAI’s business.
According to Atento, the Tangier centre has more than 400 employees, over 550 workstations, and serves more than 13 international clients. Staff provide customer support in Spanish, French and English.
The deal also shows Morocco’s growing importance in the outsourcing industry.
The country’s business process outsourcing and IT outsourcing sector generates more than $1.5bn a year and employs over 130,000 people.
The government wants to develop the industry through its Morocco Digital 2030 strategy by expanding services such as artificial intelligence, software development and other digital activities.
Tangier has become one of Morocco’s main centres for Spanish language customer support, while Casablanca and Rabat remain the country’s largest hubs for French language services.
Morocco continues to attract international companies because it offers lower operating costs and a multilingual workforce. Industry estimates show that customer service centres in Morocco cost 40% to 50% less to run than similar operations in many Spanish cities. The country also produces more than 40,000 multilingual graduates every year.
The acquisition comes as the outsourcing industry changes. As artificial intelligence handles simpler customer requests, companies are focusing on more complex work that still needs people with language skills and specialist knowledge.
