USA - The FCC faces increasing criticism that it will abandon plans to regulate the Internet

[bbc] The Federal Communications Commission faces criticism amid reports that it will abandon plans to introduce tough rules to regulate broadband services.

Its power was recently called into question when a court ruled that it had no authority to sanction cable firm Comcast for slowing some net traffic.

The decision was a blow for "net neutrality" advocates, who argue that all web traffic should be equal.

Advocacy groups argue the FCC needs to regulate to prevent further problems.

However, the Washington Post has reported that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wants to keep broadband services deregulated.

At the moment the FCC has what is known as "ancillary" authority under so called "Title 1" rules over broadband providers like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon where they are lightly regulated.

In April the court ruled that two years ago the FCC had overstepped those powers when it sanctioned Comcast for slowing down certain types of traffic where subscribers were downloading large files.

One option open to the FCC is to reclassify broadband under "Title II" rules from an information service to a telecom service.

Industry watchers have predicted open warfare if this happens because it would allow the FCC to more closely oversee providers on issues such as charges, practices, regulations, facilities and so on for their services.

Critics attack US broadband plans