By Drew FitzGerald

Verizon Communications won federal clearance for its nearly $10 billion buyout of broadband provider Frontier Communications after pledging to step up internet investments and yielding to Trump administration demands to curb its diversity policies.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr Friday granted the telecom companies' request to merge and said the deal would be in the public interest. Verizon pledged to expand fiber-optic internet service to pass near at least a million new homes a year and committed to address longstanding complaints from cell-tower maintenance companies about prices and contracts.

Verizon also said in a May 15 letter that it would scale back its diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

"We are committed to creating a culture that leverages and values each person's unique strengths and talents," the company said. "However, we recognize that the regulatory and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion ('DEI') has changed."

The company said its employee resource groups would remain centrally managed by its human-resources department "with corporate oversight and preapproval of any social and cultural events." Verizon also agreed to nix bonus and incentive payments tied to the representation of women and minorities in the company's U.S. workforce and said it would "no longer maintain any workforce diversity goals."

Write to Drew FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 16, 2025 13:22 ET (17:22 GMT)

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