The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission will recommend that the nation's largest cable company be punished for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the internet, the Associated Press reported.

The potentially precedent-setting move stems from a complaint against Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp. that the company had blocked internet traffic among users of a certain type of software that allowed them to exchange large amounts of data.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin told the Associated Press that "the commission has adopted a set of principles that protects consumers' access to the internet." He said the commission "found that Comcast's actions in this instance violated our principles."

Martin said Comcast "arbitrarily" blocked internet access to customers and failed to disclose that it was doing so.

Martin will circulate a proposal among the regulator's five commissioners that would uphold a complaint against Comcast, Reuters reported, citing an FCC spokesman. A vote on the matter is expected to be held on Aug. 1.

"The carefully limited measures that Comcast takes to manage traffic on its broadband network are a reasonable part of Comcast's strategy to ensure a high-quality, reliable internet experience for all Comcast high-speed internet customers and are used by many other ISPs around the world," Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said in a statement.

"Comcast's customer service agreements and policies have always informed Comcast customers that broadband capacity is not unlimited, and that the network is managed for the benefit of all customers."