- FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has laid out his plan to reverse the agency's approach to net neutrality, proposing to end 2015's Title II regulation on broadband service and return to a "light-touch" stance.
- His plan is to reclassify Internet service providers as Title I services, prevent the FCC from adapting regulation to future practices, and reopen questions over various aspects of the 2015 rulemaking, including service throttling.
- "I will be publicly releasing the entire text of the document tomorrow afternoon," Pai says, and he wants the agency to vote on the plan May 18.
- Pai also proposes to eliminate the Internet conduct standard, used to probe zero-rated services offered by providers.
- Internet service providers, many of whom sued to stop Title II regulation, were united in praise for the new approach, as well as calling on Congress to clarify FCC authority.
- “We welcome Chairman Pai’s announcement that he intends to reverse the prior FCC’s flawed decision that forced heavy-handed public utility regulation on today’s dynamic Internet networks," said NCTA president (and former FCC Chairman) Michael Powell, a stance echoed in statements from AT&T, Verizon, Charter and Comcast, among others.
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- FCC fact sheet
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