Cable groups seek to reverse net neutrality ruling

Six weeks after US federal judges preserved net neutrality rules for the broadband industry, internet service providers are pushing for a full court review of the decision.

The attempts of the ISPs to overturn the Federal Communications Commission rules were stymied when a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 2-1 in favour of the FCC.

Now the trade groups of the broadband industry are seeking an "en banc" review in front of all of the DC Circuit court's judges rather than a three-judge panel.

["Appellate courts in the United States sometimes grant rehearing en banc to reconsider a decision of a panel of the court (generally consisting of only three judges) in which the case concerns a matter of exceptional public importance or the panel's decision appears to conflict with a prior decision of the court" - Wikipedia].

If this approach were to fail ISPs could appeal to the Supreme Court, but according to commentators, the odds against winning appeared to be high.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and the American Cable Association (ACA), the two biggest lobby groups submitted an en banc petition last morning.

Similar petitions were also filed by CTIA-The Wireless Association, the mobile broadband industry's primary lobby group; the United States Telecom Association (USTelecom) and CenturyLink (representing DSL and fiber providers); and a small Texas ISP Alamo Broadband.

"We don't celebrate this petition, but we believe this action is necessary to correct unlawful action by the FCC," the NCTA wrote yesterday.

According to wireless trade association CTIA's court filing yesterday which sought a rehearing, "few final rules of any federal administrative agency have ever had so much potential to affect the lives of so many Americans."

The cable groups called on the court to correct "serious errors" in a decision "that radically reshapes federal law governing a massive sector of the economy, which flourished due to hundreds of billions of dollars of investment made in reliance on the policy the order throws overboard."

The FCC rules prohibit broadband providers from giving or selling access to high-speed internet - essentially a "fast lane" - on the web's information superhighway to a few internet services over others.

In supporting the FCC, the court considered the internet as a public utility and opened the door to further internet regulations.

"It comes as no surprise that the big dogs have challenged the three-judge panel's decision," FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement. He added he was confident the full court would agree with the panel's decision.