CTL CenturyLink Inc

Federal regulators plan to release a proposal as early as Friday that could lower broadband service rates for many small and midsize businesses, but would largely abandon other parts of a plan to revamp oversight of the entire business-data sector.

Senior officials at the Federal Communications Commission said the scaled-back plan could be approved by the FCC as soon as this month.

The so-called business-data market has proved to be a difficult regulatory puzzle for the FCC at a time of rapid technological transformation. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in April he would try to fashion a comprehensive new regulatory framework governing services provided to both big and small businesses.

But FCC staff concluded there was insufficient evidence of problems that would justify such new regulations in much of the market.

Instead, the FCC will focus its efforts on the lower-speed services that are typically bought by small and midsize businesses, officials said. These services are provided through legacy copper-line networks.

The services are dominated by providers such as AT&T Inc. and CenturyLink Inc. FCC officials hope that lower rates could accelerate the process of upgrading the copper-line networks.

Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 07, 2016 08:25 ET (12:25 GMT)

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