Verizon CEO wants Congress to play more active role in setting Internet Policy

The long-simmering opposition for the Federal Communication Commission's recently adopted rules for the protection of Net neutrality has intensified.

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, in a strongly worded three-page letter, has addressed to the congressional committee leaders with jurisdiction over the FCC. He has urged Congress to play a more active role in setting policy for the Internet.

McAdam said, "The FCC went far beyond open Internet rules, engaging in a radical and risky experiment to change the very policy that resulted in the United States leading the world in the Internet economy".

Verizon's push for congressional legislation has come up as the latest front in the battle to roll back the FCC's regulations. There are already two lawsuits that have been filed alleging that the FCC has exceeded its authority when it adopted the new regulations and reclassified broadband Internet service as a utility.

The United States Telecom Association, an industry group, including AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink, and Texas-based Alamo Broadband filed the suit last week.

The main focus of McAdam's objection to the FCC action is on the fact that Congress has not done sufficient work to keep the pace with the technological changes that have reshaped the telecommunication industry.

McAdams added that since two decades, there has been no meaningful update of the laws governing the communications section. He mentioned that during that period of time, technology and markets have gone through several cycles, whereas the law and policy have remained still.

According to McAdams the problem is that in the present scenario the FCC is trying to apply the rules that were created for the 1930s. He added that there is a need of a 21st-century policy framework to address these issues.