FCC chief dismisses GOP net neutrality bill

The head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is dismissing an effort by congressional Republicans to write new net neutrality laws.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Thursday that lawmakers “can write whatever rules they want to write, and we respect that ability of theirs.”

{mosads}“But I think that we’re at a fork in the road,” he added.

“It is important to deal with the long-term future of what the relationship of the American people will be with their broadband network that is so essential.”

Next month, the FCC is scheduled to vote on new regulations to prevent Internet service providers such as Comcast or Time Warner Cable from blocking, slowing or otherwise affecting people’s access to websites across the Internet. In order to do that, many people expect the FCC to take the controversial step of declaring that it can treat Internet service like a utility.

To preempt that move, Republicans on Capitol Hill have scrambled to create legislation that would enact some restrictions on how companies could control access to the Internet but also place new limits on the FCC’s authority.

Wheeler on Thursday said the fact that GOP members of Congress were even coming to the table to talk about net neutrality, which many conservatives have derided as government control of the Internet, was “a significant step forward.”

The FCC chairman declined to say whether the rules would treat Internet service as a utility under Title II of the Communications Act or whether they would also extend to people’s wireless online access and include provisions for regulating the back-end transfer of traffic, known as interconnection.  

But he didn’t rule anything out.

“We will use every tool in the agency’s toolbox to build a better broadband future and to ensure that the Internet stays fast, fair and open for all Americans,” he said.  

Wheeler’s remarks came after an FCC meeting during which the commission voted to increase its internal definition for broadband Internet, which could cause it to be more critical of the lack of competition in the current market.

Wheeler said that action was “Act One” of a three-act play that also included the upcoming net neutrality rules and another item pegged for next month’s meeting, which will decide whether states can block cities from building out their own government-run services.

“These actions are key components to building on broadband’s future,” he said.

The FCC will meet to vote on net neutrality rules on Feb. 26.