Verizon Appeals FCC Net Neutrality Rules

The cable providers says the commission is overstepping its authority

Verizon is seeking to overturn the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules.

The company has filed an appeal in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Verizon announced Friday. 

The regulations are intended to prevent internet providers from charging higher fees for premium service.

Also read: Media Reform Group Sues FCC Over New Net Neutrality Rules

Verizon is arguing that the FCC is violating its mandate by imposing the regulations and that the move will create uncertainty for the communications industry that could stifle innovation.

The new rules were published in the Federal Register last week, which opened the door to lawsuits.

"Verizon is fully committed to an open Internet," Michael E. Glover, Verizon senior vice president and deputy general counsel, said in a statement. "We are deeply concerned by the FCC’s assertion of broad authority to impose potentially sweeping and unneeded regulations on broadband networks and services and on the Internet itself."

Neil Grace, an FCC spokesman, disputed Verizon's claims that the rules were a chaotic force and said that an open internet was key to maintaining investment and advances in technology. 

"We will vigorously oppose any effort to disrupt or unsettle that certainty, which ensures that the internet remains an engine for job creation, innovation and economic growth," Grace said in a statement. 

Verzon's suit comes on the heels of a similar lawsuit filed Wednesday in Boston federal court by the media reform group Free Press. Yet Free Press had a different objection, challenging the “arbitrary nature of rule provisions” that offer less protection for mobile wireless internet access than for wired connections.

Verizon attempted to get the rules thrown out last April, but a D.C. court ruled that the company needed to wait until the new regulations were published before any appeal could be heard.

The rules are supposed to go into effect on Nov. 20. 


 

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