By Sara Jerome, The Hill

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a document on Wednesday spelling out mandates it is considering that would limit how broadband service providers may treat wireless traffic and sell “specialized” services.

The two issues constitute the most contentious areas of the net-neutrality debate. Industry stakeholders have failed to reach an agreement on these sticking points in talks at the FCC and at a trade association.

Requesting comment on possible new mandates, the FCC revealed new details on what it sees as possible ways to apply net neutrality rules in these contentious areas.

The FCC noted that an agreement between Verizon and Google issued this month “would exclude wireless, except for proposed transparency requirements.” The agency made it clear that other options are on the table.

“If providers were to be prohibited from denying or restricting access to applications in their capacity as network providers, should they nevertheless have discretion regarding what apps are included in app stores that they operate?” the document asks.

It also questions whether usage-based data models, such as those rolled out by AT&T this year, mitigate concerns about scarce network capacity, a pillar in providers’ arguments for why wireless services should not be regulated.

The FCC also lays out possible mandates to rein in the nascent practice of selling “managed services” that give content providers paid access to a throughway that is faster and more reliable than the “public Internet.” Content providers could pay to send high-bandwidth applications and content via these services.

The commission said concerns about the growth of these services center around the following fears: that these services will undercut open Internet rules, supplant the Internet and lead to anti-competitive conduct.

If these fears are realized, “the open Internet may wither as an open platform for competition, innovation and free expression,” the document said.

The FCC lays out possible solutions for preventing managed services from swallowing the Internet as it is today.

The FCC could limit what managed services broadband providers may offer, mandate that providers make capacity available for the public Internet and create rules for how providers advertise managed services. It could also force providers to offer the same rates to all content providers.

The notice received positive feedback from NCTA, the cable association. Chief Executive Kyle McSlarrow said it “raises important and complex issues and we will provide our input.”

Media Access Project’s associate director, Matt Wood, saw the document as repetitive. “The commission asks the same questions time and time again about wireless broadband services and specialized services, instead of providing basic answers on the basis of the robust record it already has compiled,” he said.

Consumer-interest group Public Knowledge (PK) echoed that the FCC is not breaking ground.

“We note that both of the issues on which the FCC seeks public comment, dealing with specialized services and the status of wireless services in an open Internet, were extensively explored in not one, but two proceedings pending at the commission in which comments were submitted,” said PK President Gigi Sohn.