AT&T Cancels DEI Policies in Name and Substance, Carrier Tells Carr

AT&T made the commitment to end DEI as it seeks FCC approval of its proposed purchase of 700 MHz and 3.45 GHz licenses from UScellular (see 2505230016). Meanwhile, NATE, a group representing tower companies, announced concessions from AT&T similar to those made before other transactions were approved by the commission. Industry officials said approval of the AT&T/UScellular agreement appears imminent.

“This isn’t a sudden transformation of values, but a strategic financial play to curry favor with this FCC and this Administration,” Gomez said in an email. “Companies should remember that abandoning fairness and inclusion for short-term gain will be a stain to their reputation long into the future.”

“How sad it is to see government and many businesses backing away from what should be a central tenet of our democracy,” emailed former acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps. “If we ever manage to reclaim what’s left of that democracy, future generations will look upon this as something reminiscent of the Jim Crow era.”

Carr acknowledged the agreement Tuesday on X. “AT&T has now memorialized its commitment to ending DEI-related policies in an FCC filing and ‘will not have any roles focused on DEI,’” he said. Carr and others have argued that DEI programs are by nature discriminatory and work against promotion based on merit (see 2503280038).

“The legal landscape governing [DEI] policies and programs has changed,” AT&T said in a letter to Carr, posted Tuesday in docket 25-150. The carrier has “closely followed the recent Executive Orders, Supreme Court rulings, and guidance issued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and ... adjusted our employment and business practices to ensure that they comply with all applicable laws and related requirements, including ending DEI-related policies … not just in name but in substance.”

AT&T described in detail how it's implementing programs across its business without the use of DEI standards. Hiring, training and career development “opportunities are not and will not be based on or limited by race, gender, or other protected characteristics,” the letter said. Procurement practices, including the award of contracts and spending, “are not based on any demographic-based goals, and we do not require our suppliers to meet any demographic-based goals.”

Verizon made DEI concessions in May, and the FCC subsequently approved its $20 billion acquisition of Frontier (see 2505160050). T-Mobile did the same and won approval for various transactions, including buying wireless assets from UScellular (see 2507090034). Both carriers also announced agreements with NATE.

The DEI concessions are “infuriating,” said Matt Wood, Free Press' vice president of policy and general counsel. It's “disappointing” to see AT&T “joining so many other companies who've made these cowardly capitulations and blatant overtures to Trump's broken ideologies.”

In reality, all that has changed “are the politics and power dynamics,” Wood said. “This increasingly unpopular authoritarian administration demands constant culture war conditions to appease its fragile sensibilities and its racist aims.” He noted that AT&T didn’t concede that it has violated any civil rights or employment laws. “The company simply knows that statements like this are necessary to satisfy Trump's and Carr's unfounded and unproven assertions that sensible diversity programs are discriminatory.”

The DEI promises aren’t a surprise, though they’re at odds with other public statements by AT&T, said New Street’s Blair Levin. It’s “a bit ironic that the FCC, whose principal obligation, along with spectrum allocation, is the USF program, which is itself all about equity and inclusion, is telling others they cannot have DEI programs.”

AT&T was the last of the “big three” wireless carriers to come to the table with NATE (see 2507140033). The agreement includes a “transition away from the use of a ‘turf’ model upon expiration of existing agreements and transition to a general contractor model that is limited to a single tier of subcontractor stacking by June 2026,” NATE said Tuesday. AT&T also promised faster payments, “with 30-day terms following project completion,” pricing upgrades and safety and workplace compliance requirements, among other concessions.

The group said the agreement also establishes a working group with representatives from NATE and AT&T, which "will meet on a regular basis to oversee the implementation of this framework and continue exploring further enhancements in areas like safety, maintenance, pricing, and operational efficiency.” AT&T noted the NATE agreement in a second filing at the FCC.