Obama urges ban on internet "fast lanes" President Barack Obama has urged the US communications regulator to ban so-called internet "fast lanes" and reclassify broadband service as a public utility, sparking outrage among cable and telecoms groups. Mr Obama on Monday weighed in for the first time with specific recommendations for the Federal Communications Commission, which is revising its definition of "net neutrality" - the principle that all internet traffic be treated equally. His intervention follows a flood of opposition to the agency's proposals, which has prompted about 4m comments to the FCC on the issue. The heart of the FCC's proposal would allow ISPs to charge services like YouTube to reach customers at higher speeds, though only on "commercially reasonable" terms. That provision sparked uproar among consumer groups and companies like Netflix. Joining consumer groups and technology companies like Google and Facebook, the president said there should be a ban on paid prioritisation that would technically allow internet service providers to charge content companies like Netflix to reach consumers at higher speeds. "Simply put: no service should be stuck in a "slow lane" because it does not pay a fee," Mr Obama said. That kind of gatekeeping would undermine the level playing field essential to the internet's growth. His comments triggered a sell-off in shares of cable companies, which are among the biggest broadband internet providers. Comcast, the world's biggest cable operator, closed down 4 per cent, Time Warner Cable was off 5.1 per cent and Charter Communications down 6.2 per cent. Comcast is seeking regulators" approval for a takeover of TWC. Comcast, whose executives have been prominent donors to Mr Obama, and telecoms groups such as Verizon have vigorously opposed the president's idea that the FCC should reclassify consumer broadband service as a public utility. Verizon said so-called "Title II" reclassification "would apply 1930s-era utility regulation to the internet" and be a "radical reversal of course that would . . . threaten great harm to an open Internet, competition and innovation." The company added that reclassification would "likely also face strong legal challenges and would likely not stand up in court." Michael Powell, chief executive of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, said the industry association was "stunned" at Mr Obama's intervention. This tectonic shift in national policy, should it be adopted, would create devastating results. Comcast said reclassification would be "a radical reversal" of a decade of precedent that would harm investment and innovation. However, Mr Obama was cheered by open internet advocates such as Harvard Law School's Susan Crawford and companies such as Netflix. "Consumers should pick winners and losers on the internet - not broadband gatekeepers," said a spokesperson for the subscription video service. This is a bold move. The FCC has already lost two court challenges on net neutrality, including a lawsuit brought by Verizon. That loss prompted the agency to propose net neutrality rules for the third time, hoping the latest measure would stand up in court. Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the FCC, said he was "grateful" for the president's input and added that the legal questions around net neutrality show the agency has more work to do. "We would need more time to examine these [measures] to ensure that whatever approach is taken, it can withstand any legal challenges it may face," said Mr Wheeler, indicating the debate could go into next year. Ted Cruz, the prospective 2016 Republican presidential candidate, highlighted the political heat around the issue, describing net neutrality as "Obamacare for the Internet; the Internet should not operate at the speed of government." Mitch McConnell, the Republican who is set to become Senate majority leader in the new Congress, said the president was abandoning years of a regulatory light touch, which had proven to be successful. "The Commission would be wise to reject it," he said. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said his chamber would resist the push for additional regulations. Mr Obama's comments put more pressure on the FCC to toughen its initial proposal. "The president who promised to take a back seat to no one on Net Neutrality has finally gotten in the driver's seat," said Craig Aaron, president of Free Press, which advocates an open internet. And he may have saved the internet at the moment it was in the greatest jeopardy.