AT&T joins Verizon in calling for overhaul of telecom laws

Jim Cicconi, AT&T's top lobbyist, said that Congress should decide who has authority over broadband services and that lawmakers should step in before the Federal Communications Commission tries to reclassify broadband.

"If there are questions about the authority of the FCC in the Internet ecosystem, the proper answer is not for the FCC to get adventurous in interpreting its authority, as some are urging. Instead, any question of the FCC's jurisdiction over the Internet should properly be referred to the Congress for resolution." Cicconi wrote, "The FCC derives its authority from Congress, and if the courts say the FCC lacks the authority it needs to do what it wants to do, the proper--and constitutionally correct--answer is to ask the Congress to address the question."