U.S. regulators may extend a “hybrid” form of net neutrality regulations for utilities to broadband, according to public advocacy groups as reported by Businessweek.

Comcast Corp., AT&T Inc., and Verizon Communications Inc. have campaigned hard against the Federal Communications Commission adopting the rule after reports suggested that the agency would apply rules it has used for telephone companies on broadband access.

A court struck down the FCC’s previous bid to adopt open-Internet regulations because it lack jurisdiction, but the agency now thinks it could use Title II to regulate deals between service providers and companies who are trying to reach consumers. Policy groups have applauded this move.

While the regulations wouldn’t apply to all Internet service — which may allow providers to limit access to certain broadband speeds — it is a step forward for the advocacy groups. However, they warned that hybrid regulations are “too clever by half” and won’t survive in court.

The proposal will need to pass a number of hurdles, including being cleared by the five-member agency which is majority Democratic. Republican FCC members are opposed to the proposal.

The FCC had been trying to establish its autority to enforce net neutrality, which would prevent service providers from artificially “throttling” broadband speeds to customers. Essentially, the principle holds that a free and open internet is paramount and all traffic should be treated equally.

However, the new proposal would be a hybrid that would differentiate between wholesale transactions and retail ones. The utility-style regulation would apply to the wholesale portion, whereas transactions that sends data through the service provider to the consumer wouldn’t be as heavily regulated by the FCC.