The Federal Communications Commission has moved closer to reinstating net neutrality rules. The agency adopted a notice of proposed rulemaking and opened a call for comment on classifying fixed and mobile broadband Internet service as an essential telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act. The Commission will also seek comment on proposals to ensure broadband services have effective oversight. If the proposals are adopted after public comments, the FCC will once again be charged with protecting Internet openness and competition, as well as guarding against broadband national security threats and other public safety issues.

“The commissioners at the Democratic-led agency voted 3 to 2 along party lines to kick off a monthslong process to bring back so-called net neutrality regulations that prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing down services like Google and Netflix on their networks,” writes The New York Times, explaining that a final vote is expected next year. Net neutrality rules were repealed during the Trump administration.

The move puts the agency on track to classify high-speed Internet as a utility, like electricity or water. As consumers increasingly rely on broadband for information and communications, the path represents “a major step toward modernizing the agency’s objectives,” NYT reports.

“Internet providers are meant to act as pipes for data the same way phone companies do for calls,” writes TechCrunch. “Of course this distinction has become more complex, but the legal and expert consensus is that broadband should be regulated like a telecom rather than a tech company — like AT&T rather than Microsoft.”

Broadband providers and Republicans “have vowed to fight the proposal, saying it will be too much of a burden on broadband providers,” NYT reports. The move puts the agency on track to classify high-speed Internet as a public utility, like electricity or water.

As consumers increasingly rely on broadband for information and communications, the path represents “a major step toward modernizing the agency’s objectives,” NYT says. While the move “faces a legal and political battle, the new rule benefits from eight years of hindsight,” TechCrunch says.

“Enfocement of open Internet protections was a commitment of the FCC from 2005 to 2018,” the agency wrote in a press release. This go-round, the Commission will forbear from 26 Title II provisions “and more than 700 Commission rules,” the agency says, stressing it will not be permitted to implement policies for pricing or network unbundling, among other things.

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced late last month that the agency was drafting new net neutrality rules.