Will Appeals Court Overturn “Network Neutrality” Rules?

A US Court of Appeals finally will hear a Verizon challenge to Federal Communications Commission network neutrality rules. How the court rules could lead to big changes for the broadband access business. Specifically, if the court sustains the network neutrality rules, it is possible the “best effort only” rules that now apply to fixed access providers likely will be extended to mobile service providers as well. It is conceivable that new rules could be considered that extend FCC rules over terms and conditions of service, including such items as prices or data caps.

The case, which is before the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, is Verizon’s challenge to the FCC’s controversial network neutrality rules. There is much at stake. If the Appeals Court overturns the network neutrality rules, fixed and mobile network high-speed access services with quality of service features could be created and sold, either directly to consumers or to third party application providers. On the contrary, if the rules are sustained, some think the rules will be extended to mobile networks that arguably need quality of service mechanisms to maintain end user experience. Up to this point, the legality of the network neutrality rules as applied to mobile service providers has been unclear, as the FCC has said it has the authority to apply net neutrality rules, but simply has avoided doing so.