Wheeler backtracks earlier statement about FCC charging Web companies to pay for fast Internet content delivery

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler reportedly decided to revise his approach to net neutrality rules after making a provocative speech in which he earlier said that he will allow firms to charge Web companies for the latter to get faster delivery of their content. The Wall Street Journal said on Sunday that Wheeler opted to backtrack from his earlier declaration after sending a letter to tech companies on Friday in the hopes of making the case that it is possible to have Internet fast lanes without slow lanes.

In a response to a letter signed by several of the most prominent companies in Silicon Valley, he wrote, "I won't allow some companies to force Internet users into a slow lane so that others with special privileges can have superior service."

The fast-lane language used to promote net neutrality had proven to be bad branding for the FCC, Businessweek said. And even FCC officials agree. Republican FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly, who has expressed his opposition to tougher net neutrality rules to C-SPAN recently, said, "I worry when people use the phrase ‘fast lane,' because that implies there's a slow lane."

Wheeler's new approach to implementing stricter restrictions entails an introduction to oversight over broadband companies to curb temptation to engage in behavior seen as anti-competitive, Businessweek said. On the other hand, the news outlet said this does not mean that Wheeler is abandoning the idea of allowing broadband companies to charge a premium on Internet firms for faster delivery services. Wheeler reportedly has the intention of allowing broadband companies to extend that kind of premium service to any company who is willing to pay the extra cost for faster deliver.

Nonetheless, critics are skeptical whether Wheeler's approach would work way after his term in the FCC. An unnamed FCC official told WSJ, "There is a wide feeling on the eighth floor that this is a debacle and I think people would like to see a change of course. We may not agree on the course, but we agree the road we're on is to disaster."

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Federal Communications Commission, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler

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