Dive Brief:
- AT&T announced last week it was dropping all policies and programs dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, “not just in name but in substance,” in a bid to adjust to an evolving legal landscape. The announcement came as AT&T sought approval for a $1 billion acquisition.
- The telecommunications conglomerate committed to scrapping DEI in a filing submitted to the Federal Communications Commission on Dec. 1. The agency under Chair Brendan Carr has pushed companies to end DEI programs to gain approval of transactions and purchases since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
- AT&T said in a letter last week that it had adjusted its employment and business practices to align with recent executive orders, Supreme Court rulings and guidance issued by the Trump administration. The move was also tied to AT&T’s broader application for approval to purchase wireless spectrum licenses from UScellular worth $1.02 billion. The FCC approved the transaction on Wednesday, after AT&T pledged to ditch DEI.
Dive Insight:
The wireless carrier — the third-largest in the United States, behind T-Mobile US and Verizon Comunications — said in its letter it does not and will not have any positions that focus on DEI. AT&T also pledged that its hiring, training and career development opportunities won’t be “based on or limited by race, gender, or other protected characteristics.”
The company also said it would not use race, sex or sexual orientation-based hiring quotas and that it has removed training programs related to DEI and any mention of its internal and external messaging, “consistent with the current law.”
“The legal landscape governing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and programs has changed,” AT&T Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel David McAtee wrote in his letter to Carr. “We have closely followed the recent Executive Orders, Supreme Court Rulings and guidance issued by the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission, and have adjusted our employment and business practices to ensure that they comply with all applicable laws and related requirements, including ending DEI-related policies.”
The FCC said the deal would help boost AT&T’s network capacity, coverage, speed and overall performance in its Dec. 3 order approving AT&T’s acquisition of UScellular — now known as Array Digital Infrastructure. The communications regulator also noted AT&T’s pledge to drop DEI in its notice.
“We recognize AT&T’s commitment to equal employment opportunity and nondiscrimination as strengthening its investment and service quality efforts,” the FCC said in the order. “We accept AT&T’s commitments as firm and definite, and expect that these changes will prevent DEI discrimination in the post-transaction company, as consistent with the law and the public interest.”
Carr, who Trump picked to lead the FCC shortly after the November 2024 election, has been a vocal critic of companies promoting DEI. The FCC chair has made ending such initiatives a key requirement for companies looking to receive approval from the agency for merger and acquisition deals.
“Any businesses that are looking for FCC approval, I would encourage them to get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination,” Carr said in a March interview.
AT&T joins a wave of other companies that have scrapped DEI programs or references to it in corporate ESG reports to align with the current administration’s view on such initiatives and to get regulatory approval on pending deals and transactions.
These include rival telecom companies, Verizon and T-Mobile, who both ended their respective DEI programs this year in order to have deals approved by the FCC.
A recent report from The Conference Board found that the S&P 500 companies used the acronym 68% less in securities filings this year compared to 2024, while 21% removed or reduced DEI metrics or targets in their filings.
