Comcast Corp and AT&T Inc have no plans to create Internet "fast lanes" that may hurt consumers' freedom to roam the web.
Last week, Senator Patrick Leahy wrote to top Internet service providers (ISPs), pleading to them that not to enter any co-called paid prioritization deals, in which content companies would pay ISPs to ensure smooth and fast delivery of their traffic.
"We have repeatedly made clear - both to our customers and more generally to the public - 'Comcast doesn't prioritize Internet traffic or have paid fast lanes, and we have no plans to do so,'" Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen told Leahy in a letter dated Oct. 24 and viewed by Reuters late on Wednesday.
In its response on Thursday, AT&T said it had no plans to strike deals with third parties in order to prioritize traffic as it travels the "last mile" of the network from the ISP's facilities to consumers' screens "without the knowledge and direction of the end user," according to Reuters.
The Federal Communications Commission received almost 4 million comments after it proposed new web traffic, or "net neutrality" rules. The rules prohibited ISPs from blocking content, but suggested allowing a few "commercially reasonable" paid prioritization deals.
Verizon Communications released its own response to Leahy on Wednesday, asserting no plans for "fast lane" deals, and calling paid prioritization a "phantasm." The company worries about it "demagoguery, since no major ISP has expressed an interest in offering 'paid prioritization' and all agree that the FCC has a valid legal path to prohibit it."
Consumer advocates and other criticizers are worried that opening the door for such arrangements could create "fast lanes" for some content. It could also relegate other websites and applications to "slow lanes," despite the fact that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has said he would not tolerate anti-competitive or anti-consumer prioritization, according to Reuters.
Comcast, AT&T and Verizon all argued that the FCC should choose other legal options,
"Departing from the longstanding, bipartisan light-touch approach to the Internet by reclassifying broadband would be risky and unnecessary," Cohen wrote.
The FCC is working on new neutrality rules after a U.S. appeals court in January struck down their previous version in a case brought by Verizon.
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