The people laid off were in the Dynamic Dispatch center (or as T had rebranded it, the Dispatch Optimization Center, or DOC). The entire DOC was surplussed, but T was able to claim in the release that they weren't closing the center because the location also houses the TSC.
I work in the Denver DOC and this has nothing to do with "efficiency". The workload from Phoenix got offloaded to my DOC site in Denver and another in L.A., which basically doubled our coverage area and normal workload. Friday thru Monday when staffing is lower, most coordinators in my office are monitoring upwards of 300+ techs when we used to only be responsible for about 50+. We've honestly gone from a 2-3 person team monitoring one site, to each person monitoring 2-3 sites.
On top of this we continue to lose headcount due to the hiring freeze. We can't transfer out so people quit weekly, so staffing in the last 6 months has gone from about 45 to about 25.
DIRECTV is dead. AT&T killed it and now wears around it's face as a trophy. To paraphrase The Walking Dead, whatever good thing we thought we had going on before is gone. We work for Negan now.