AT&T late on Tuesday joined the thronging mob of industry players suing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over its new net neutrality rules.
The National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) also joined the fray.
AT&T is the first big telco to file a lawsuit as a standalone company; until now, U.S. operators have mounted legal challenges indirectly through major lobby groups such as USTelecom and CTIA, which instigated proceedings on Monday and Tuesday respectively.
Like the lawsuits that have gone before, AT&T’s and the NCTA’s petitions were filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and use the same wording: that while they support the principles of an open Internet, they argue that the FCC’s decision to reclassify broadband access as a utility service governed by Title II of the Communications Act was "arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion."
New net neutrality rules were adopted by the FCC in late February and formally issued on 12 March. They prevent fixed and mobile broadband providers from blocking access to legal content, applications and services, and from striking commercial agreements with online service providers to prioritise their traffic.
The new net neutrality rules were published to the Federal Register on Monday, opening a 60-day window that allows groups th at oppose them to file a legal challenge.
