AT&T will attempt to resolve a years-long dispute over its throttling of mobile data traffic through negotiations with federal regulators, company officials said Thursday.
“We have decided not to seek review by the Supreme Court, to focus instead on negotiating a fair resolution of the case with the Federal Trade Commission,” said AT&T spokesman Mike Balmoris, according to Reuters.
The spat stems from a 2014 FTC complaint, which alleged that AT&T deceptively charged for unlimited data plans only to slow the speeds for customers that reached certain data consumption thresholds.
AT&T had argued that the FCC — not the FTC — had jurisdiction over the matter, and a lower court agreed with the carrier. But a federal appeals court reinstated the case in February, Reuters noted, after the FCC’s move to scrap 2015 net neutrality rules gave the FTC authority over internet service providers.
The FCC, meanwhile, has yet to act on a 2015 proposal to fine AT&T $100 million over the matter. The company said at the time that it disclosed its throttling and was “fully transparent with our customers.”
Filed Under: Industry regulations
