The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved Charter Communications’ $34.5 billion acquisition of Cox Enterprises.

First announced in May of last year, when the two cable rivals confirmed a definitive agreement had been reached to combine their two businesses.

The FCC noted that it has approved the deal based on certain conditions, which include the onshoring of jobs in the US, plus increased investment in rural infrastructure, and 'anti-discrimination protections,' a stance heavily in line with the Trump Administration.

"By approving this deal, the FCC ensures big wins for Americans. This deal means that jobs are coming back to America that had been shipped overseas," said Brendan Carr, chairman of the FCC.

"It means that modern, high-speed networks will get built out in more communities across rural America. And it means that customers will get access to lower-priced plans. On top of this, the deal enshrines protections against DEI discrimination.”

In order to gain approval, Charter has committed to onshoring jobs in the US. As part of this transaction, Charter will onshore all of the job functions currently handled offshore by Cox within 18 months, matching Charter’s own, longstanding commitment to a 100 percent US-based customer sales and service employee workforce.

The company has also committed to a $20 per hour minimum starting wage for Cox workers.

As with a number of high-profile M&A deals in the telecoms sector in the last year, the removal of DEI policies has also been pushed by the FCC, something that the regulator said Charter has agreed to scrap.

As part of the deal, Charter will acquire Cox’s residential cable, commercial fiber, and managed IT and cloud businesses.

The merger will see the combined company use the Cox Communications name, while the consumer brand will remain Spectrum.

Charter will now indirectly control Cox’s residential broadband, video, mobile, and voice businesses, plus its advertising and enterprise businesses and its Segra, UPN, and RapidScale businesses.

The company named former Frontier Communications CEO and telecoms industry veteran Nick Jeffery as its COO last week.