Leader Seeks Tech Companies’ Views on Net Neutrality -
By CECILIA KANGAPRIL 20, 2017
Mr. Pai said that he agreed with the broad principles of net neutrality but
that the rules, created by the commission in 2015, went too far in restricting broadband providers.
Mr. Pai said on Thursday that he wanted to overturn the declaration of broadband as a utility-like
service, which puts stricter rules on broadband providers, akin to what phone services face today.
Michael Copps, a former Democratic commissioner, said companies like AT&T and Comcast
that have heavily lobbied the commission to roll back rules would directly benefit from the recent actions.
A Cisco spokeswoman said Mr. Pai had asked the company’s chief executive, Chuck Robbins,
to gather some Silicon Valley leaders to discuss the future of net neutrality.
“The public interest suffers, and we are poorer — economically and civically — for it.”
In votes split down party lines on Thursday, Mr. Pai pushed forward a plan
that will ease standards to allow telecom carriers like AT&T and CenturyLink to raise fees for small businesses, wireless carriers, hospitals and libraries to connect to the main arteries of their broadband networks.
“I think they were appreciative,” Mr. Pai said of the tech companies.