AT&T CEO confident Title II will be overturned by courts or Congress

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson last November claimed he would pause the company's fiber investments because of the impending broadband reclassification and imposition of network neutrality rules. "We can't go out and invest that kind of money deploying fiber to 100 cities not knowing under what rules those investments will be governed," Stephenson said at the time. But now that the Federal Communications Commission has reclassified broadband providers as common carriers and used its Title II authority to impose net neutrality rules, Stephenson says AT&T is confident that it can keep investing. It's not because AT&T agrees with the rules, as the company has sued to overturn them.

Instead, Stephenson said he is confident that either the courts or Congress will overturn or heavily alter the FCC's decision. "The exact comment I made was we're going to put a pause on our new broadband deployment plans until we see how these rules came out," Stephenson said. "We have seen how the rules came out. As we read those rules, we do believe they're subject to modification by the courts and remand by the courts to the FCC." AT&T is continuing with its investments as planned, he said. "Based on our reading of the Title II order that came out, we're operating and we're investing under the scenario that these rules will probably be changed," he said. "We don’t think this rulemaking is sustainable from a legal standpoint, but the courts will decide that. But irrespective, the Congress seems inclined to make a change here so we really think these rules will be modified to a format that will be conducive to investment in the long haul."