TMobile

July 11 (UPI) — T-Mobile announced it will scrap its diversity, equity and inclusion policy on Friday, while it awaits Federal Communications Commission approval to buy U.S. Cellular for $4.4 million.

The company, owned by German company Deutsche Telekom, is the second-largest wireless operator in the United States. It’s trying to buy most of U.S. Cellular and Internet service provider Metronet.

“T-Mobile will no longer have any individual roles or teams focused on DEI,” the company said. “T-Mobile is also removing any references to DEI on its websites and will ensure that company websites and future communications do not have any references to DEI.”

The FCC follows an informal timeline of 180 days to review mergers. The T-Mobile/U.S. Cellular deal is on day 253.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr said on X that the move was “another good step forward for equal opportunity, nondiscrimination, and the public interest.”

In a letter to Carr, Mark W. Nelson, executive vice president and general counsel for T-Mobile U.S., said, “Our belief then and now is that skills, aptitude, and a growth mindset are what contribute to exceptional performance — and that merit is how you advance at our company, regardless of who you are or where you’re from. Equality of opportunity, performance-based rewards, and ensuring we’re a place where everyone can win as ‘One Team, Together’ — that’s what we intended through some of our practices that were labeled as ‘DEI.'”

The letter said the company reviewed its policies and is “ending its DEI-related policies as described below, not just in name, but in substance.”

The letter goes on to list the different areas T-Mobile is making changes, including:

• Leadership and public messaging
• Hiring and recruitment
• Career development, mentorship and training
• Supplier and vendor diversity, corporate sponsorships and memberships
• Employee resource groups

Carr has told Bloomberg News that “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.”

Anna M. Gomez, a member of the FCC, disparaged T-Mobile’s decision on X: “In yet another cynical bid to win FCC regulatory approval, T-Mobile is making a mockery of its professed commitment to eliminating discrimination, promoting fairness, and amplifying underrepresented voices,” Gomez said. “History will not be kind to this cowardly corporate capitulation.”

Many companies and organizations have backed off their DEI programs to curry favor with the administration of President Donald Trump. Thursday, the Department of Education launched an investigation against George Mason University and its hiring practices. If the agency determines that the university violated the staff’s civil rights, GMU could lose federal funding.

The wireless carrier, which is seeking FCC approval on two deals, bowed the pressure from the White House.

Wireless carrier T-Mobile says it is ending its diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, under pressure from the Trump administration as it seeks regulatory approval for two major deals.

The Washington state-based company said in a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, made public on Wednesday, that the wireless company is ending its DEI-related policies “not just in name, but in substance.”

T-Mobile said it will no longer have any individual roles or teams focused on DEI, is removing any references to DEI on its websites, and has removed references to DEI from its employee training materials.

Carr said he was pleased with the changes. “This is another good step forward for equal opportunity, nondiscrimination and the public interest,” according to the news agency Reuters.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, a Democrat, criticised T-Mobile’s action, saying, “In yet another cynical bid to win FCC regulatory approval, T-Mobile is making a mockery of its professed commitment to eliminating discrimination, promoting fairness, and amplifying underrepresented voices.”

T-Mobile is awaiting FCC approval to buy almost all of regional carrier United States Cellular’s wireless operations including customers, stores and 30 percent of its spectrum assets in a deal valued at $4.4bn, and a separate transaction to establish a joint venture with KKR to acquire internet service provider Metronet, which reaches more than 2 million homes and businesses in 17 states.

Investors did not respond well to the news.  As of 2:30pm ET (18:30 GMT), the company’s stock, traded under the TMUS, is down 1.3 percent since the market opened.

T-Mobile joins a growing list of companies bowing to pressure from the Trump administration that face regulatory approval.

Last week, Paramount agreed to pay a $16m settlement after the president claimed CBS News’ show 60 Minutes misleadingly edited an interview with then Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris, as Paramount seeks regulatory approval for the proposed merger with Skydance.