Net neutrality: FCC approves plan to govern internet like public utility – as it happened

“No one whether government or corporate should control access to the internet” Wheeler says.

The FCC website carrying a live stream of the hearing is struggling to cope with the number of people following along online.

Berin Szoka, executive director of TechFreedom, which opposes net neutrality has been tweeting .

Pai says consumers should expect broadband bills to go up and speeds to get slower.

He says net neutrality will mean new taxes on broadband bills. He says regulations will slow development in US broadband.

It’s hard to imagine US broadband it being any less developed compared to Europe

Pai was formerly a lawyer for Verizon, which has been on the frontlines of the cable company’s lobbying against net neutrality. His profile on the FCC’s website says: “He served as Associate General Counsel at Verizon Communications Inc., where he handled competition matters, regulatory issues, and counseling of business units on broadband initiatives.”

Commissioner Ajit Pai: “We are flip flopping for one reason only: President Obama asked us to”

He says Obama’s plan “is not the solution to a problem, his plan is the problem”.

Christopher Mitchell, director of community broadband networks at the institute for local self-reliance, which campaigns for more local broadband providers, said the vote for municipal broadband was a “watershed moment” that will help check “the worst abuses of the cable monopoly for decades to come”.

Cable companies lost their bet that millions spent on lobbying to stifle competition was a wiser investment than extending high-quality Internet to our nation’s entrepreneurs, students and rural families.“Preventing big Internet Service Providers from unfairly discriminating against content online is a victory, but allowing communities to be the owners and stewards of their own broadband networks is a watershed moment that will serve as a check against the worst abuses of the cable monopoly for decades to come.”

The FCC decision sets an historic precedent for towns working to offer municipal broadband networks in twenty states that have enacted limits or bans on local governments building, owning, or even partnering to give local businesses and residents a choice in high speed Internet access. Three-quarters of Americans currently have either no broadband or no choice of their Internet provider.

@SenTedCruz, a Republican senator from Texas, is one main opponents of net neutrality which he described as “Obamacare for the internet.”

He released this bizarre video as part of his campaign

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the internet, has given evidence in favour of net neutrality and ensuring that the internet remains open and fair for all.

FCC votes in favour of overturning state laws that ban municipalities from expanding independent broadband coverage.