It appears that AT&T's decision to throw a hissy fit stop building out its gigabit fiber internet service has prompted the missive. CEO Randall Stevenson claims that his company is merely waiting to see what the FCC decides, but given Ma Bell's distaste for net neutrality, it's clear where his loyalties lie. Should the protest continue, then it's companies like Nokia Networks and Broadcom that'll feel the pinch.



As far as companies like IBM and Intel are concerned, reclassifying broadband as a utility will prompt the networks to halt their building plans altogether. Were that to happen, it's claimed that US investment in broadband could fall by as much as $45 billion in the next five years. With that sort of money no longer in the system, the tech businesses will begin to suffer, quickly followed by the rest of the economy. It's at this point the letter whips out the word "recession," and heavily implies that net neutrality will send the country spiraling into another depression. That doesn't sound like scaremongering to us, no siree.

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