- AT&T joined its peers in formally ending DEI programs and roles
- It already started dialing back DEI earlier this year
- AT&T still needs FCC approval for its EchoStar and Lumen deals
Another operator bites the dust on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), as AT&T joined Verizon and T-Mobile in formally ending its DEI-related policies.
In a letter dated December 1 to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), AT&T stated it “does not and will not have any roles focused on DEI,” removed workforce DEI training as well as any DEI references from its internal and external messaging. Further, the company said it won’t use hiring quotas based on race, sexual orientation “or any other protected characteristic.”
“AT&T has always stood for merit-based opportunity, and we are pleased to reaffirm our commitment to equal employment opportunity and nondiscrimination today,” the company wrote.
It's not like we didn’t see this coming. AT&T began dialing back on DEI earlier this year, when it renamed its chief diversity officer to “vice president of culture and inclusion,” stopped participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, ceased funding some LGBTQ+ groups, among other changes.
Despite all that, AT&T CEO John Stankey said in May “we don’t have to roll back anything” after announcing its deal to acquire Lumen’s fiber-to-the-home business for $5.75 billion. His comments came after Verizon officially ditched DEI to score FCC approval for its $20 billion Frontier acquisition.
But since then, AT&T landed a much bigger deal – a $23 billion purchase of EchoStar’s low and mid-band spectrum licenses. Thanks to a short-term spectrum management lease, the operator has already rolled out the 3.45 GHz spectrum to nearly 23,000 cell sites.
All the same, AT&T is still waiting on the FCC’s stamp of approval for both EchoStar and Lumen. So, it may as well clarify its DEI stance now, said Recon Analytics Principal Roger Entner.
“AT&T never officially informed the FCC and they did that now,” he told Fierce. “If they would not have done this, the FCC would have required it anyway, so better getting ahead of it with the EchoStar transaction needing FCC approval.”
T-Mobile went down a similar path to get its various acquisitions approved. In March, it informed the FCC it was conducting a “comprehensive review” of its DEI policies, which apparently was enough to get its Lumos deal greenlit. Then in July, the company formally slashed its DEI programs and later obtained approval to acquire USCellular and Metronet.
As for Verizon, its decision to drop DEI didn’t come without consequence. It’s facing opposition from California state regulators, who have yet to fully approve the Frontier merger as Verizon’s DEI stance conflicts with the state’s inclusion laws.