AT&T: First Test for Trump on Network Neutrality

[Commentary] Regulators say AT&T’s free-data offering for DirecTV violates network neutrality rules. But come January 2017, the regulators may be out the door and those rules may be under threat.

AT&T received a letter from the Federal Communications Commission saying its practice of exempting its own video-streaming service from data-usage caps may violate net-neutrality rules. AT&T has until Nov. 21 to respond, and analysts say the FCC is likely to issue a final ruling halting the offering over the next couple months. But the election of Donald Trump has thrown the agency’s willingness to uphold such a ruling into the air. That makes AT&T’s position the most visible example of the speculation and uncertainty brewing over Trump’s stance on net neutrality—the signature issue of the Obama FCC. Most Republicans strongly oppose the agency’s net neutrality rules, which reclassified broadband internet service as a utility. And the market is betting that the Trump administration will appoint an FCC chairman who shares that view. But President-elect Trump has yet to lay out a clearly defined view of telecom policy.