FCC's Wheeler aims to update Title II for new net neutrality rules [telecom]

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By Sean Buckley, FierceTelecom, February 4, 2015

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler revealed that his proposed new net neutrality rules will reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act.

Wheeler laid out his thoughts in an op-ed article in Wired. In the op-ed, he provides more details on what he told attendees at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January--that he is leaning toward proposing net neutrality rules where broadband providers will be reclassified as utilities under Title II of the Communications Act.

He noted that he originally believed the FCC could codify net neutrality regulations using a standard of "commercial reasonableness" under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act. Wheeler wrote that while a federal appeals court decision in January 2014 seemed to point the FCC toward that approach, he "became concerned that this relatively new concept might, down the road, be interpreted to mean what is reasonable for commercial interests, not consumers."

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Neal McLain