AT&T Join Other Trade Groups in Suing FCC; They Support Net Neutrality But Not Internet Reclassification

AT&T Inc. has added to the growing number of telecommunications, cable, and trade groups who are suing the FCC over their net neutrality rules. This is not the first time that FCC is being sued for their implementation and amendment of rules and throughout the years, a number of different trade companies are often against the rules that FCC often imposes.

This lawsuit follows the two other legal challenges that have already been thrown at FCC filed in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Another provider, Alamo Broadband Inc., sued FCC in the US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

This development is just one of the challenges the FCC is facing ever since they published their rules on net neutrality order. AT&T Inc. and other wireless carriers are not the only ones challenging the rules. Other trade groups include cable companies and internet providers who have filed lawsuits a day after the rules were published in the Federal Register.

This reaction to the net neutrality was due to the decision of the FCC to reclassify the internet as a telecommunications service, putting the phone usage under so many rules and its regulations, according to the companies suing, capricious, arbitrary, and against federal law.

Having AT&T Inc join in the lawsuit bandwagon is newsworthy because they have stayed away from the issue in the past. It can be noted that Comcast successfully sued FCC over its attempt to throttle a file sharing service in 2010, and Verizon was also successful at suing to overturn FCC's new rules.

Other trade groups who have filed suits against FCC include the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the American Cable Association, and CTIA - The Wireless Association.

The trade groups have expressed their support for the net neutrality rules, however, it is the FCC's reclassification decision that they do not agree with.