The Federal Communications Commission voted Dec. 21 to approve a version of "net neutrality" rules for wireless and wired network providers, bringing to a climax an intense regulatory struggle by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski that began more than a year ago. The rules will likely provoke protest and lawsuits, as well as criticism from public interest groups that do not think the rules go far enough.

Under the rules, approved in a 3-2 vote, wireless carriers will be barred from blocking services like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Voice and Skype that compete with their own voice and video offerings, but they could block access to other applications.

Wired broadband providers cannot block any legal content from their networks. But while they cannot "unreasonably discriminate" against high-bandwidth providers of Internet services, they can engage in "reasonable network management." The rules state that "pay for prioritization" arrangements, as a general rule, will not satisfy the ban on unreasonable discrimination.

Importantly, the rules do not call for the reclassification of broadband under Title II of the Telecommunications Act as a common-carrier service. Rather than take a Title II route, the FCC's office of general counsel said the FCC has authority to promote advanced telecommunications services and encourage broadband deployment--factors that underpin its authority to create the rules.

The FCC's progress on net neutrality stalled in April when a federal appeals court ruled that the agency had overstepped its legal authority when it cited Comcast in 2008 for interfering with subscribers' access to peer-to-peer file sharing services. The ruling, Comcast v. FCC (.pdf), said the FCC could not rely on its "ancillary jurisdiction" under Title I of the Telecommunications Act to regulate how Comcast managed its network. That ruling put on hold the FCC's net neutrality rules, which were passed in draft form in October 2009.

The new rules from the FCC are likely going to be challenged in court. Indeed, Verizon (NYSE: VZW) is considering filing a lawsuit against the rules, pending a detailed review of them, according to a report in the National Journal, which cited unnamed sources. The report cautioned that no final decision has been made. A Verizon spokesman, Edward McFadden, declined to comment.

Phil Goldstein is editor of FierceWireless

For more:
- see more on this story from FierceWireless
- see an FCC net neutrality press release and a statement from Genachowski
- see this National Journal article

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