U.S. FCC plans $100 mln fine for AT&T over 'throttling' disclosures

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday proposed a $100 million fine against AT&T Inc, accusing the second-largest U.S. wireless carrier of misleading unlimited-data customers about possible slowdowns in download speeds.

In announcing the decision, which AT&T says it will "vigorously dispute," the FCC said the carrier offered what it called unlimited data plans without sufficiently informing its customers that their Internet speeds could be slower than normal in some cases, a practice known as "throttling."

"The FCC will not stand idly by while consumers are deceived by misleading marketing materials and insufficient disclosure," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement.

(Reporting by Alina Selyukh; Editing by Emily Stephenson)