Should High-Speed Internet be a Public Utility? AT&T Versus the FCC

It is only a suggestion that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has made regarding turning the high-speed Internet into a public utility but the backlash has started quicker than expected. In a move against the FCC’s latest suggestion, AT&T has already taken a step toward challenging the regulatory authority.

According to AT&T, the FCC might just end up losing a legal battle if it plunges ahead with its decision to increase Internet regulation with the approach it is trying to follow. The intent behind the FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s decision in this case is that he wants to avoid Internet providers from blocking some websites which the consumers wish to visit. Or the incidence of charging more to Netflix or YouTube for fast lanes to your houses. To that end, the FCC Chairman is trying to release a heavier regulation of the Internet. He also prepared to propose new rules in this regard very soon. If the broadband ends up being a public utility, the FCC would be able to have far more information and insight into the type of network-access arrangements that Internet providers make with content providers like Netflix and Google.

In a very lightly veiled threat, AT&T has made it clear that it will ultimately sue to discourage the FCC from asserting the authority and going ahead with the idea it shared. However, the FCC has not even formally announced the rules and regulations it is thinking to lay down yet and still, the telecoms are already up for fighting a legal battle against it.

AT&T has stated two reasons for the FCC’s decision not turning into a reality. First, it claims that the FCC cannot view Internet providers as telecom-like utilities because the FCC itself termed them as "information providers" way back in 2002. The second reason is that the FCC hasn’t performed a study to prove that Internet providers in a certain geographic area act like monopolistic “common carriers,” like the old Bell System. In an interview with CNET last month, Wheeler said he was indeed ready for battle, if there is one.