Court rejects Verizon's challenge to FCC's data roaming regulations

A federal court rejected Verizon's challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's data roaming rules, an important victory for the commission as it looks to fend off a series of lawsuits that would curb its regulatory power over Internet services.

In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that the data roaming requirements fall under the FCC's "broad authority" to manage the airwaves. The FCC has long required that cellphone service providers offer reasonable voice roaming terms to their competitors. Roaming occurs when subscribers travel beyond their own carrier's network and use another company's cell towers to complete a call. The FCC adopted an order last year that expanded those roaming rules to cover wireless Internet service. Verizon sued, claiming that the FCC overstepped its authority under the Communications Act. Verizon said the rules represented an "unprecedented and unbounded theory of regulatory power over wireless Internet service." But the court ruled that Title III of the Communications Act "plainly empowers" the FCC to expand its roaming rules to cover data. The court also rejected Verizon's claim that the rules treat cellphone carriers as "common carriers," which is prohibited under the Communications Act.