Net Neutrality Latest News 2015: AT&T and Verizon Denounce FCC on Controversial Net Neutrality Ruling

By Dondi Tiples, Christian Post Contributor Friday, February 27, 2015

US telcos, AT&T and Verizon have condemned the net neutrality ruling laid down by FCC after the body voted to classify the Internet a public utility yesterday.

Telecommunications companies AT&T and Verizon are currently protesting the Federal Communications Commission's move to ban prioritization and disallow service providers to create pricing options for connection speed and bandwidth consumption after the FCC voted to declare the Internet a public utility.

The FCC ruled on net neutrality after a 3-to-2 vote reclassifying broadband access as a telecommunications service, subjecting it to heavier FCC regulation. This prohibits broadband providers from blocking or speeding up Internet connections based on user payment, nor will they be allowed to contract paid prioritization deals with content providers to deliver paid traffic to their users.

This regulation will extend to interconnection deals and open up venues for unjust fee complaints. The regularization will extend to fixed line and mobile telecom providers, as well.

Verizon immediately issued a response to the ruling:

"The FCC's move is especially regrettable because it is wholly unnecessary. The FCC had targeted tools available to preserve an open Internet, but instead chose to use this order as an excuse to adopt 300- plus pages of broad and open-ended regulatory arcana that will have unintended negative consequences for consumers and various parts of the Internet ecosystem for years to come."

The company stated in a letter on its public policy page, but not before first issuing its protest in Morse code as a protest.

Jim Cicconi, Senior Executive VP of AT&T, said in a blog post that the decision did not make any sense, pointing out the partisanship in the voting that insinuates the debate on net neutrality is far from over.

Despite their heavy protests, neither company has yet to file a petition in court asking to suspend the ruling. However, that course of action has not been ruled out, and the FCC is expecting any number of protesting telcos to file for a stay order on the ruling in the next few days.