NTCA, others file suit to halt the FCC’s net neutrality rules

Already four wireless carriers have filed suit against the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality ruling.

The National Cable and Telecommunications Association, CTIA, the American Cable Association, and U.S. Telecom have all filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals after the FCC ruling was officially published in the Federal Register yesterday. Court filings from U.S. Telecom call the ruling “capricious and arbitrary.”

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In shared remarks, NCTA chief executive Michael Powell said of the ruling:

The FCC went far beyond the public’s call for sound net neutrality rules. Instead, it took the opportunity to engineer for itself a central role in regulating and directing the evolution of the Internet. We regrettably file this appeal and urge Congress to assert its role in setting national policy, by enacting legislation that fully protects the open Internet, without the harmful impact of public utility regulation.

The fight against the FCC’s ruling has been percolating since the commission first announced its decision in February. Immediately afterward, AT&T and Verizon issued statements in rebuke.

In a 3-to-2 vote, the FCC banned Internet fast lanes and, with it, pricing based on bandwidth consumption and connection speed. The ruling also gave the FCC regulatory authority over mobile broadband services in addition to the web.

Unless the U.S. Court of Appeals pauses the ruling until matters between the carriers and the FCC are resolved, the rules will take effect 60 days from yesterday, on June 12, 2015.