The top US telecoms regulator has unveiled sweeping plans to overturn Obama-era rules designed to protect an open internet.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, Ajit Pai, plans to repeal “net neutrality” regulations that were championed by tech companies and consumer groups. The rules but have been heavily criticized by internet service providers and Pai.

“The FCC will no longer be in the business of micromanaging business models and pre-emptively prohibiting services and applications and products that could be pro-competitive,” Pai told Reuters. He added that the Obama administration had sought to pick winners and losers and exercised “heavy-handed” regulation of the internet.

“We should simply set rules of the road that let companies of all kinds in every sector compete and let consumers decide who wins and loses.”