Almost immediately after an announcement was made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the fact that it intended to regulate broadband Internet, talk began circulating that Verizon and AT&T would be taking the matter to court.

The Chief Executive officer of AT&T, Randall Stephenson, has already directly stated that legal action will be forthcoming in this regard. His words to CNBC’s Squawk Box were, “There will be litigation. It’s quite certain that that will be the case.” Although he isn’t entirely sure what form of litigation will take place, he did state that it could end up coming as an overall industry movement.

Stephenson has also suspected that many industry leaders, among them AT&T, would request a stay from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This would enable regulators as well as the industry itself to deal with some of the many implications that are currently associated with the plan – including a host of new taxes that are based on Title II classification. He went on to mention, “There’s [sic] a lot of details that need to be flushed out. What all this is doing, is putting the industry in a big moment of uncertainty and lack of clarity.”

It has been noted that the FCC could end up putting the new regulation into place by as early as February 26, and Stephenson stated that it would become extremely difficult or even close to impossible to repeal the order once it has been set in place.

The Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, has vehemently insisted that he is in the process of deploying a modernized Title II that would help prevent paid prioritization, blocking and throttling from taking place. He also stated that the FCC would not overreach into other areas such as rate regulation.

However, other members of the FCC such as Commissioner Ajit Pai, have disagreed and stated that the new plans will not only affect rates, but also chill network investment, which would result in consumers experiencing even slower broadband speeds than those currently available.

Industry leader Verizon has also voiced its concerns and is strongly opposing the proposal. In a letter compiled for the FCC recently that was intended to clarify comments that were made by Wheeler, the cell network carrier strongly urged that the Commission refrain from limiting providers’ flexibility to differentiate and innovate by means of a variety of services.

On the other hand, Sprint has been far more accepting with regards to Title II reclassification and has stated that the proposed regulations should not have a negative impact on wireless network investment – provided that they are applied with a light touch.