Nine months after Verizon (NYSE: VZ) successfully sued the FCC to have net neutrality legislation thrown out, the conglomerate's rivals are fuming, as they suspect the regulatory body will now enact new rules that are more restrictive.
Specifically, wireless Internet operators, who were free to speed up or slow down certain services under the old regime, question Verizon's judgment in aggressively seeking to overturn the Federal Communications Commission mandates in court.
"They were like a dog chasing a bus," said a broadband industry source to the National Journal, which reported on the industry dissonance toward Verizon Friday. "What are you going to do when you catch the bus?"
Certainly not pleasing Verizon's rivals: The FCC is now considering the reclassification of the Internet as a "telecommunications service" under Title II of the Communications Act.
As the National Journal also reports, one constituency is looking back on the January Verizon-v.-FCC ruling with a bit more fondness: consumer activist groups.
"If nothing else, this proceeding has allowed the FCC to reexamine some of the conclusions baked into the 2010 rules," Michael Weinberg, a VP at the consumer-advocacy group Public Knowledge, told the pub. "Any opportunity to have the FCC potentially strengthen open Internet protections is an opportunity we welcome."
For more:
- read this National Journal story
Related links:
Verizon sues FCC again over net neutrality rules
Legal weapon: Verizon files suit in opposition to FCC's net neutrality order
Verizon relaunches net neutrality lawsuit against FCC