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The FCC has approved AT&T’s $1.02 billion spectrum acquisition from UScellular on the condition that the company terminates its DEI initiatives, amid concerns over industry consolidation and its impact on rural connectivity and competition.
The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T’s $1.02 billion purchase of spectrum licenses from UScellular, conditional on AT&T’s formal commitment to end its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programmes.
According to the FCC, the acquisition, which transfers 1,250 million MHz-Pops of 3.45 GHz and 331 million MHz-Pops of 700 MHz B/C block licenses, will enhance AT&T’s network coverage, capacity and performance and thus improve the customer experience.
AT&T notified the FCC in a letter that it will terminate DEI activities as part of the conditions tied to the transaction, a move the company said was necessary to obtain regulatory approval. Industry reporting and the FCC statement place this decision squarely within the commission’s recent practice under Chair Brendan Carr of making cessation of DEI programmes a term of certain approvals.
The Rural Wireless Association opposed the deal, arguing it risks further consolidation and could harm competition and roaming options for rural consumers, potentially raising prices for wireless plans. The FCC acknowledged these concerns but concluded the net effect would be to strengthen AT&T’s network performance for customers.
The AT&T transaction follows a broader pattern in which major carriers have agreed to end DEI initiatives to secure FCC clearance: T‑Mobile ended DEI programmes while seeking approval for its purchases of much of UScellular’s retail operations and customers, and Verizon made similar concessions in its approval to acquire Frontier Communications’ assets.
UScellular’s investor release confirms the company has monetised a significant portion of spectrum excluded from earlier transactions with other bidders, and FCC filings provide the regulatory context by mapping MHz‑POP holdings across carriers, data used to assess concentration and potential competitive impacts.
The move is the second largescale spectrum purchase for AT&T this year, after the operator bought low-band and mid-band spectrum from EchoStar earlier this year fr $23 billion s
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