Court Denies FCC Request to Hold Net Neutrality Challenge In Abeyance

Will allow telco challenge to network neutrality rules to proceed to trial, with the next step expected to be the setting of a brief schedule

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/1/2012 4:11:24 PM

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit -- the court of first resort for FCC appeals -- Thursday denied the FCC's request to hold appeals of its network neutrality rules in abeyance until it acted on a petition to reconsider the rule. That will allow the telco challenge to the FCC's network neutrality rules to proceed to trial, with the next step expected to be the setting of a brief schedule.

Verizon and MetroPCS challenged the rules in court, but they were also challenged at the FCC by Southern Company Services over the issue of specialized services and their lessened protection under the net neutrality rules.

While the court will not wait for the FCC to decide whether it was correct to provide the specialized services carve-out, it did refer the commission's petition to dismisss the case to the three-judge panel scheduled to hear argument.