DC Circuit Win for AT&T on VoIP Doesn't Undercut FCC on Net Neutrality, Agency Tells Court
The FCC's loss in a court case to AT&T on VoIP issues doesn't undercut the agency on net neutrality rules, the regulator told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The commission responded (in Pacer) Thursday to CTIA's…
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telling (in Pacer) the D.C. Circuit Nov. 23 that the loss five days earlier in AT&T v. FCC (see 1611180063 and 1611180011) had bearing on the association's petition for the full court to reconsider the net neutrality case. AT&T shows the phone and internet networks are distinct, not as a three-judge D.C. Circuit panel found in a 2-1 USTelecom v. FCC net neutrality ruling for the agency that they are "an interconnected, single network," said CTIA, which also backed cases against net neutrality rules. Not so, said the commission, contending AT&T broke no new ground and the facts were understood before the net neutrality ruling. "AT&T confirms that the [USTelecom] panel properly upheld the agency’s classification of mobile broadband as a telecommunications service," said the FCC. "While AT&T largely hinged on exactly how a call is transferred between traditional telephone and VoIP providers, there is no dispute that such a call is in fact transferred, allowing traditional phone users and VoIP users to reach one another." CTIA didn't comment Thursday.