AT&T joined T-Mobile US and Verizon in committing to end its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, as it seeks to gain regulatory approval for the purchase of spectrum assets.

In a filing to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), it stated it “will not have any roles focused on DEI” and would end related policies.

“AT&T has always stood for merit-based opportunity and we are pleased to reaffirm our commitment to equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination today,” it stated.

The announcement was welcomed by FCC chair Brendan Carr in a post on X and the move is likely to result in the regulator now approving AT&T’s $1 billion deal to acquire spectrum licences from UScellular.

AT&T began to scale back its DEI efforts in March by making funding cuts to certain programmes and restructuring its leadership, but stopped short of cutting off the initiative completely.

Deals
The administration of US President Donald Trump is requiring telecoms operators to end their DEI programmes to gain regulatory approval for deals.

In May, Verizon won regulatory approval for a $20 billion acquisition of fixed line service provider Frontier Communications a day after it ended DEI initiatives.

It was a similar story for T-Mobile, which in July took the same stance on DEI to gain approval for a $4.4 billion move to acquire the bulk of UScellular’s wireless assets.