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  "description": "Company could face standoff with FCC Chairman Carr, but AT&T already rolled back major DEI policies in March.",
  "path": "/at-t-says-it-will-keep-dei-policies-in-place-ahead-of-merger/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-05-28T19:11:44.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "_$5.75 billion merger with Lumen_",
    "_a Thursday statement to Yahoo Finance_",
    "_from changes the company made earlier this year_",
    "_****Learn more about Speeding BEAD Summit****_",
    "What is Broadband Breakfast?",
    "_has vowed to use the FCC’s regulatory powers_",
    "_the FCC signalled that it would not approve a merger_",
    "_$20 billion merger with Frontier Communications was eventually approved_",
    "_end its DEI program_",
    "_merger between Charter Communications and Cox Communications_",
    "_has drawn sharp criticism from some_",
    "_insisted in a February interview with Broadband Breakfast_"
  ],
  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, May 28, 2025 – AT&T has vowed to keep its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies in place ahead of its _$5.75 billion merger with Lumen_, setting up a potential conflict between the telecommunications giant and the Federal Communications Commission.\n\nIn _a Thursday statement to Yahoo Finance_, AT&T CEO **John Stankey** declared that “we don’t have to roll back anything” and “our goal is to make sure that every employee that walks through the door of AT&T feels like they belong here and it's a good place for them to work… I'm pretty confident that anybody who examines our practices and how we run the business is going to come to that same conclusion.\"\n\nStankey’s confidence may stem _from changes the company made earlier this year_. In March, the company renamed its chief diversity officer to “vice president of culture and inclusion,” stopped funding the Trevor Project, and no longer carries preferred pronoun pins at its employee stores. In addition, the company ceased participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, and has replaced its DEI training with “leadership training.”\n\n\n\n_****Learn more about Speeding BEAD Summit****_\n\n What is Broadband Breakfast? \n\nIt remains to be seen if these changes will be enough to satisfy Federal Communications Commission Chairman **Brendan Carr** , who _has vowed to use the FCC’s regulatory powers_ to crack down on DEI practices within the telecommunications industry. Recently, _the FCC signalled that it would not approve a merger_ between Verizon and Frontier Communications unless Verizon agreed to end its DEI policies. Verizon’s _$20 billion merger with Frontier Communications was eventually approved_, hours after it agreed to _end its DEI program_.\n\nAT&T’s defiance, and the FCC’s response to it, will undoubtedly inform the trajectory of other mergers within the industry, including the recently announced _merger between Charter Communications and Cox Communications_. Both Charter Communications and Cox Communications did not respond to requests for comment before publication.\n\nThe FCC’s use of its regulatory powers to crackdown on DEI initiatives within the telecommunications industry _has drawn sharp criticism from some_, who argue that such moves are based on opaque standards and set a dangerous precedent.\n\nCarr, on the other hand, _insisted in a February interview with Broadband Breakfast_ that such moves are necessary to end “forms of invidious DEI discrimination that, in my view, would pretty clearly violate the FCC's EEO rules.”\n\n _Clarification: This story's sub-headline was modified to include language that AT &T had already rolled back major DEI policies in March. The story has not been modified._",
  "title": "AT&T Says it Will Keep DEI Policies in Place Ahead of Merger",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T03:28:45.935Z"
}