'AT&T does not and will not have any roles focused on DEI'
AT&T has made a commitment to end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in a bid to get approval from the country's telecommunications regulator to buy wireless spectrum assets.
The US telecommunications firm issued the commitment in a letter to Brendan Carr, chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), earlier this month.
"AT&T does not and will not have any roles focused on DEI," the letter read, as published by Carr on his X account.
AT&T also underscored that its pay and promotion practices are based on merit and qualifications, and stressed that its hiring and training opportunities are not based on race, gender, or other protected characteristics.
"We do not and will not use hiring quotas based on race, sex, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristics," AT&T told the FCC chair.
"Further, consistent with the current law, we removed training related to 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' as well as any references to it from our internal and external messaging."
AT&T issued the following commitments as it seeks approval from the FCC for its purchase of wireless spectrum licenses from US Cellular in a $1.02 billion deal.
Ending DEI measures
Similar major moves on DEI have also been made by other telecoms firms in the US as the FCC, under President Donald Trump, has effectively made ending DEI programmes a condition for approving certain transactions.
"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 previously told Bloomberg News.
T-Mobile previously scrapped its DEI initiatives in a bid to secure FCC approval for two major transactions earlier this year.
Verizon also ended its DEI policies to secure approval from the FCC for its purchase of broadband provider Frontier Communications.
