AT&T, Verizon and Texas ISP Fire First Legal Shots Against Net Neutrality

To no one’s surprise, the FCC’s net neutrality rules are coming under legal fire by the telecom industry.

A pair of lawsuits, filed by USTelecom — a broadband “association” led by Verizon and AT&T (again, like the Radiohead song, no surprises) — and Texas-based Alamo Broadband, are contesting the agency’s rules which have not yet been implemented, but USTelecom and Alamo Broadband filed their petitions, just to sure.

The net neutrality ruling was published in the FCC’s website on March 12, but have not been published in the Federal Register. Normally, the ruling would take effect 60 days after publication in the register, but any lawsuits need to be filed within 10 days of the rulings going into effect. For this reason, the language used in the court filings are vague to ensure they are in effect when the ruling is enforced.

The FCC told Ars Technica, “We believe that the petitions for review filed today are premature and subject to dismissal.”

The website also speculated other telecom and wireless industry groups will engage in their own lawsuits against the FCC.

Via Ars Technica. Photo by Free Press/flickr.