AT&T has been a major holdout on Net Neutrality laws for some time because of their blanket policies, which would adversely affect a company of its size. Today it extended an olive branch, as well as a proposal, to the chairman of the FCC. Enterprise Networking Planet gets the details.
As the Federal Communications Commission moves forward in a proceeding to codify Net neutrality into binding rules, one of the most prominent and longstanding opponents of the policy today offered a mild concession Tuesday.
In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, AT&T’s (NYSE: T) top lobbyist indicated that the telecom giant could support a rule that targets “unreasonable and anticompetitive” discrimination, rather than a blanket rule that would prohibit ISPs from any sort of prioritization or discrimination.
“By focusing on unreasonable and anticompetitive discrimination, the commission can enable innovation to occur at all levels of the Internet but still maintain the ability to respond on a case-by-case basis to allegations of unreasonable and anticompetitive conduct that materially harms consumers,” wrote James Cicconi, AT&T’s executive vice president of regulatory affairs.
“By contrast, a strict nondiscrimination standard could inadvertently limit the availability of creative and innovative services that consumers may want to purchase.”
