FCC expected to propose regulating the Internet as a utility

New York

THE chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this week is widely expected to propose regulating Internet service like a public utility, a move certain to unleash another round of intense debate and lobbying about how to ensure so-called "Net neutrality", or an open Internet.

It is expected that the proposal will reclassify high-speed Internet service as a telecommunications service, instead of an information service, under Title II of the Communications Act, according to industry analysts, lobbyists and former FCC staff members.

The change, the analysts and others say, which has been pushed by President Barack Obama, would give the commission strong legal authority to …