WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr on Thursday opened a probe into diversity practices at Verizon and raised the telecommunications company's ongoing effort to purchase Frontier Communications.

Carr earlier this month told NBC News-parent Comcast ( CMCSA ) he was opening a similar probe into the company's promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Verizon is awaiting FCC approval for its $9.6 billion purchase of Frontier. "In order to aid the FCC's resolution of these matters, please reach out to the agency personnel that have been working on Verizon's pending transactions at the FCC," Carr wrote.