On Monday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asked for public comment on whether its guidelines on network neutrality would prevent Internet service providers from discriminating against certain applications used over their networks, the Associated Press reported.

The FCC is asking for comment about its guidelines on network neutrality, as well as whether there was a need to create new rules to govern this practice, according to the AP.

There have been allegations by public interest groups and software companies that Comcast Corp. had been preventing BitTorrent – a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing software application – from being used via its broadband network.

Last week, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said that the agency would investigate the claims that Comcast violated its network neutrality guidelines.

On Monday, Comcast received the FCC’s letters of inquiry regarding complaints that the company actively interferes with its subscribers' Internet traffic, the AP reported.

"We look forward to responding to the FCC inquiries regarding our broadband network management," said David L. Cohen, an EVP at Comcast. "We believe our practices are in accordance with the FCC's policy statement on the Internet where the Commission clearly recognized that reasonable network management is necessary for the good of all customers.”

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