Report: FCC Likely to Delay Net-Neutrality Rules

Emerging Federal Communications Commission rules on how broadband Internet providers can treat traffic on their networks are so complicated that they may be delayed until next year as the agency works to ensure they are defensible in court and people understand them, according to The Wall Street Journal.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had said he wants to finish the rules by the end of the year. In May he put out a proposal aimed at preventing Internet providers, such as Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp. from slowing down or blocking the delivery of content to consumers, while leaving the door open for the providers to cut deals with content companies for faster delivery of certain websites, sometimes called fast lanes.

Under the emerging plan, Internet providers’ retail operations—where consumers pay for Web access—would be regulated more lightly than the back end, in which broadband providers serve as the conduit for websites to distribute content. The FCC would classify the back-end service as a common carrier, like the old landline telephone network, giving the agency the ability to police any deals between content companies and broadband providers.

His new plan is known as a hybrid plan because it is an attempt at a compromise between the providers and their backers who wanted little regulation and activists who wanted both parts to have more oversight.

As a result, FCC staff lawyers are pushing for more time to fully vet the proposal, especially since Verizon and other providers have made it clear they plan to challenge the rules in court.

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