WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal

Communications Commission will vote to reinstate landmark net

neutrality rules and assume new regulatory oversight of

broadband internet that was rescinded under former President

Donald Trump, the agency's chair said.

The FCC told advocates on Tuesday of the plan to vote on the

final rule at its April 25 meeting.

The commission voted 3-2 in October on the proposal to

reinstate open internet rules adopted in 2015 and re-establish

the commission's authority over broadband internet.

Net neutrality refers to the principle that internet service

providers should enable access to all content and applications

regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking

particular products or websites.

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel confirmed the planned

commission vote in an interview with Reuters.

"The pandemic made clear that broadband is an essential

service, that every one of us - no matter who we are or where we

live - needs it to have a fair shot at success in the digital

age," she said.

An essential service requires oversight and in this case we

are just putting back in place the rules that have already been

court-approved that ensures that broadband access is fast, open

and fair."

Reinstating the rules has been a priority for President Joe

Biden, who signed a July 2021 executive order encouraging the

FCC to reinstate net neutrality rules adopted under Democratic

President Barack Obama.

Democrats were stymied for nearly three years because they

did not take majority control of the five-member FCC until

October.

Under Trump, the FCC had argued the net neutrality rules

were unnecessary, blocked innovation and resulted in a decline

in network investment by internet service providers, a

contention disputed by Democrats.

Rosenworcel has said the reclassification would give the FCC

important new national security tools. The agency said in its

initial proposal that rules could give it "more robust authority

to require more entities to remove and replace" equipment and

services from Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE (Shenzhen:000063)

.

Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr opposed the move,

saying that since 2017 "broadband speeds in the U.S. have

increased, prices are down (and) competition has intensified."

He argued the plan would result in "government control of the

internet."

Despite the 2017 repeal, a dozen states now have net

neutrality laws or regulations in place. Industry groups

abandoned legal challenges to those state requirements in May

2022.