AT&T CEO Warns FCC Over Net Neutrality

Randall Stephenson

The newly proposed net neutrality rules by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) amount to regulation of the Internet that would stifle growth and innovation of online services and technology solutions, AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson told CNBC.

Stephenson said in a "Squawk Box" interview that aired Friday that he supports the original idea of net neutrality, which set out to preserve a "free and open Internet ... without any blocking and without any prioritization." But he argued, "We have now, under the president's urging with the FCC, moved from pursuing a free and open Internet to regulating the Internet end to end."



Last week, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced a plan that would put Internet service in the same regulatory camp as the telephone. Using Title II of the 1934 Communications Act, the agency would be given broad authority to ban providers from manipulating online content. Wheeler said he believes his approach would not discourage industry investment, because he'd withhold enforcement of sections of the law that don't apply to broadband, and he won't try to regulate industry prices.

AT&T's Stephenson disagrees—saying Wheeler's approach would put the industry in a "big moment of uncertainty and lack of clarity."

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