The U.S. Congress will push for net neutrality legislation next year, even though the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has acted against broadband providers that it found to block or slow Web content, an adviser to a senior U.S. senator said Thursday.

While the FCC has addressed what it saw as net neutrality violations on a case-by-case basis in recent years, a law passed by Congress would provide customers, investors, Web-based companies and broadband providers with certainty about the rules of the road, said Frannie Wellings, telecom counsel for Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat and cosponsor of a bill introduced in 2007 that would have created a net neutrality law.

"We definitely think legislation is necessary," said Wellings, speaking at a University of Nebraska College of Law forum on telecom law in Washington, D.C.

Net neutrality merger conditions placed by the FCC upon AT&T in its December 2006 acquisition of rival BellSouth were "proof to us that the world doesn't end if you choose not to discriminate" against Internet content, Wellings added. Congress may also look at ways to spur broadband competition by going back to rules that require broadband providers to share their networks with competitors, and it may allow the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to investigate broadband providers for unfair business practices, she added.

AT&T would prefer that the FCC continue to act on a case-by-case basis on net neutrality issues, said James Cicconi, the telecom's senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs. After a heated debate for a couple of years, there's been a consensus forming around net neutrality, with many broadband providers now acknowledging that customers want an open Internet and many net neutrality advocates acknowledging that network providers need to manage their networks for the good of customers, he said.

"There's a lot of people who now believe that companies like AT&T are not plotting to overthrow the open Internet concept," Cicconi said.

It's against AT&T's economic interest to block or slow Internet content, because customers demand an open Internet, he added. "Our core asset is our network," he said. "We get paid for carrying bits."

But new legislation could raise questions among investors in broadband providers, he added.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.