AT&T looks to flip net rules debate on Google

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Inc said any new "net neutrality" rules imposed by U.S. regulators need to apply to Web companies like Google Inc as much as to phone companies to ensure a level playing field.

In a letter Friday to the head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau, the biggest U.S. telephone company argued that Google would have an unfair advantage if its Voice service is not subject to the same rules proposed by the FCC on phone operators.

"To the extent 'net neutrality' is animated by a concern about ostensible Internet 'gatekeepers,' that concern must necessarily apply to application, service, and content providers," Robert Quinn, AT&T's senior vice president for federal regulations, wrote to the FCC's Sharon Gillett.

Last week, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski proposed new rules requiring operators to open their networks to any legitimate Internet content or service without discrimination.

If adopted, the rules would be a victory for big Internet companies like Google at the expense of network operators like AT&T, Verizon Communications, Sprint Nextel Corp and T-Mobile.

Broadband carriers such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless have argued that existing net neutrality guidelines were sufficient and should not be codified into a rule. They argue that they need the ability to protect their networks from bandwidth-hogging applications.

T-Mobile is a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon and Vodafone Group Plc.

A lawyer for Google said the company's Voice service application is a Web software tool and should not be regulated like telephone companies.

"We feel comfortable that it is not a regulated service," Richard Whitt, a Washington D.C.-based lawyer for Google, told Reuters. "It is a service that originates from an online platform."

The FCC said it had received AT&T's letter and was reviewing it.