Comcast is appealing a decision by the FCC that requires it to stop blocking peer-to-peer traffic. (Douglas C. Pizac/Associated Press)

The top U.S. telecommunications regulator is set to introduce net neutrality rules that will prohibit internet providers from selectively blocking or slowing web traffic, according to a report.

Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski is expected to outline the proposal, which will require internet providers to treat all traffic equally, in a speech on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The rules will also extend to the wireless networks owned by companies such as AT&T and Verizon, as well as wired networks run by cable companies such as Comcast.

Some American internet providers, both wired and wireless, have prevented customers from certain uses of the internet. The FCC last year rebuked Comcast for blocking peer-to-peer technology and ordered the company to stop the practice. Wireless companies also currently block customers from using bandwidth-intensive services such as file-sharing on their phones.

The FCC has for some time held unofficial principles relating to net neutrality, or the prevention of seeing service providers pick winners and losers on the internet. The regulator will now enshrine those principles as official rules, the newspaper reported.

Internet providers are sure to oppose the move and will argue that they have the right to manage how their networks work. An appeal by Comcast over the FCC's sanctions is still working its way through the courts.

Both Genachowski and U.S. President Barack Obama are on the record as supportive of the need for net neutrality rules. Obama appointed Genachowski, a fellow Harvard law alumni, to head the FCC earlier this year.

The net neutrality issue has also been hotly contested in Canada. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission held public hearings on the subject this summer after making a controversial ruling that allowed Bell Canada to continue slowing peer-to-peer software last year. The regulator is expected to announce its findings from the hearings by the end of the year.

The Liberals, NDP and Green Party have voiced support for net neutrality rules in Canada. The Conservatives have not yet voiced an opinion on the issue.