T-Mobile has officially closed its joint venture deal with the fiber provider Lumos, after taking down its webpage dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the process, as reported by Fierce Network. The now-blank page outlined T-Mobile’s “culture of fairness, respect, and inclusion” and was online until at least March 26th, the Internet Archive shows.
Its removal seems like a direct response to the threats from Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr, who said companies should “get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination” during an interview with Bloomberg last month. He suggested that major deals, such as T-Mobile’s plan to acquire most of US Cellular, won’t happen if DEI is still in play.
T-Mobile executive vice president Mark Nelson has already indicated that the company plans on complying with Carr’s orders. In a March 27th letter to the FCC, he stated T-Mobile is “conducting a comprehensive review of its DEI policies, programs, and activities,” adding that the joint venture with Lumos “will not promote invidious forms of discrimination.” As pointed out by Fierce Network, the FCC signed off on the deal on March 28th. The Verge reached out to T-Mobile with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.
Since becoming FCC chair, Carr has probed the DEI practices at Comcast, Verizon, and Disney. The Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats have responded by opening an investigation of their own, which will examine the time and resources the FCC has spent on “bogus investigations.”