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ARTICLE · 25 JANUARY 2007

The FCC and Net Neutrality

Duane Morris LLP
Duane Morris LLP
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The November elections have increased the likelihood that the new Congress will act on net neutrality legislation. The chances for Congressional action received a major boost recently when the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") agreed to accept certain conditions offered by AT&T and BellSouth to secure approval of their $85 billion merger, the largest telecom merger to date.

United StatesMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
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The November elections have increased the likelihood that the new Congress will act on net neutrality legislation. (See our Nov. 30, 2006 Telecom Alert.) The chances for Congressional action received a major boost recently when the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") agreed to accept certain conditions offered by AT&T and BellSouth to secure approval of their $85 billion merger, the largest telecom merger to date. While the text of the Order is not yet available, the terms of the parties' commitments regarding net neutrality and other issues have been released.

According to the FCC, net neutrality means that consumers should be allowed to access lawful Internet content of their choice, run applications of their choice, connect lawful devices of their choice that do not harm the network, and have a choice of providers. These four principles were adopted in a Policy Statement issued by the FCC in 2005.

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