The FCC last week asked a US appeals court to dismiss challenges to the new net neutrality rules lodged by telcos MetroPCS and Verizon.
The companies had filed separate appeals in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia against the net…
The FCC last week asked a US appeals court to dismiss challenges to the new net neutrality rules lodged by telcos MetroPCS and Verizon.
The companies had filed separate appeals in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia against the net neutrality rules approved by the FCC in December.
The FCC made its response in documents submitted to the appeals court and dated 28 January. In these documents, it asked the court to dismiss these challenges on the technical point that they had been filed too early.
In the document for the MetroPCS case, the FCC argues that the court should reject its appeal because it was filed before the publication of the “Open Internet Order” (the official name for the new rules) in the Federal Register, and is therefore “jurisdictionally barred”.
The Federal Register is an official daily monitor publishing the rules (adopted or proposed) and notices of the US government or other federal agencies.
The FCC used similar wording in its January 28 response to the appeal filed by Verizon.
A senior FCC official said: “The rules that govern when and how parties may challenge FCC orders are clear, and Verizon and MetroPCS filed too early when they challenged the Open Internet order.”
