WASHINGTON — New rules proposed by the nation's chief communications regulator to ensure unfettered access to the Internet would level the online playing field as more people surf the Web on mobile devices, but the plan has wireless carriers in an uproar.
Monday's proposal by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski would ensure that consumers would be able to get whatever content they want on the Internet and to use any service they want.
But the telecommunications and the cable companies that control both land-line and wireless access to the Internet argue that some customers who download large amounts of data, such as a continuous flow of movies, can jam their networks. Regulations that prevent the companies from restricting such bandwidth hogs, they contend, would hamper their networks, harm innovation and delay upgrades.
The debate centers on so-called network neutrality principles that the FCC has been using for four years to prevent telecom companies, such as AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc., from restricting access to websites and other online services.
Genachowski's proposal would turn those principles into permanent rules and expand them to prevent discrimination against the type of data flowing through the networks, such as free Internet phone services or file-sharing technology for movies.
And for the first time, the regulations would apply to wireless carriers. Genachowski said there was no reason to continue to exempt wireless services from rules designed to preserve the Internet's traditional open access.
"Even though each form of Internet access has unique technical characteristics, they are all different roads to the same place," he said. "It is essential that the Internet itself remain open, however users reach it."
Network neutrality has become a major cause in recent years for public interest groups, Internet activists, Democratic lawmakers and online companies such as Google Inc. They worry that telecom companies will squeeze out competitors offering video and other services or charge websites fees to have their pages delivered faster to users.
Last year, the FCC ordered Comcast Corp. to stop blocking some customers from using the BitTorrent file-sharing technology. The FCC found that Comcast was trying to cripple video sites that competed with its on-demand service and failed to tell customers it was blocking their access. Comcast said those customers were using far too much bandwidth in sharing movies and other video, dramatically slowing the network. It is challenging the FCC's findings in court.
