WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal

Communications Commission will vote Thursday to reinstate

landmark net neutrality rules and assume new regulatory

oversight of broadband internet rescinded under former President

Donald Trump.

The commission voted 3-2 in October along party lines to

advance the proposal to reinstate open internet rules adopted in

2015 and re-establish the commission's authority over broadband

internet.

The FCC will vote to give final approval Thursday. It began

debating the net neutrality item at 11 a.m. ET and a vote is

expected within an hour.

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.

"It is time to have broadband oversight, national net

neutrality rules and policies that ensure the internet is fast,

open, and fair," said FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel.

Rosenworcel says reclassifying broadband is critical to

boost the FCC's authority to "direct foreign-owned companies

deemed to be national security threats to discontinue any

domestic or international broadband services."

She noted the FCC has taken similar actions

against Chinese telecom companies

using existing authority.

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.

A group of Republican lawmakers including House Energy and

Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Senator Ted

Cruz called the plan "an illegal power grab that would expose

the broadband industry to an oppressive regulatory regime"

giving the agency and states power to impose rate regulation,

unbundling obligations and broadband taxing authority.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose

members include Amazon.com ( AMZN ), Apple ( AAPL ), Alphabet

and Meta Platforms ( META ), back net neutrality,

arguing the rules "must be reinstated to preserve open access to

the internet".

USTelecom, whose members include AT&T ( T ), Verizon

and others, called reinstating net neutrality "entirely

counterproductive, unnecessary, and an anti-consumer regulatory

distraction".

Despite the 2017 decision to withdraw the requirement at the

federal level, a dozen states now have net neutrality laws or

regulations in place. Industry groups abandoned legal challenges

to those state requirements in May 2022.