Following President Barack Obama's plea for open internet, the Federal Communications Commission in the US now plans to postpone a vote on net neutrality until next year.
According to The Daily Dot, which quoted the FCC's press secretary, there will be no vote on open internet rules during the meeting agenda in December, meaning rules will likely be finalised in 2015 instead.
Public internet groups largely oppose the rules, which were first proposed in May, because they'll allow internet service providers, such as Time Warner Cable, to charge content providers, such as Netflix, for faster delivery of traffic.
Nearly 4 million comments have flooded the FCC since May, and President Obama also pressed the FCC on 10 November to tighten internet traffic rules, emphasising that costly fast lanes should be banned.
“Net neutrality has been built into the fabric of the internet,” the President said in a video message. “We cannot allow ISPs to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas.”
Despite the President's plea, The Washing Post has claimed that Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the FCC, is in a tough position. He reportedly still wants to consider the concerns of both fixed and mobile internet service providers.
“What you want is what everyone wants: an open internet that doesn’t affect your business,” said Wheeler, according to unnamed people who were at a meeting with the chairman. “What I've got to figure out is how to split the baby.”
Wheeler, who was in a private meeting with officials from web companies like Google, Yahoo, and Etsy, is reported to have been visibly frustrated and repeatedly said: “I am an independent agency”.
The White House has not commented on Wheeler’s stance other than to agree that the FCC is an independent agency and “ultimately this decision is theirs alone".