Verizon has filed suit against the Federal Communications Commission in hopes of putting a stop to the new "data roaming" rules issued last month. In its appeal, the telecom giant argued that the FCC overstepped its boundaries when approving the regulations, adding that it doesn't believe the rules are necessary in the first place since large carriers already enter into data roaming agreements with smaller partners.

The FCC approved the data roaming guidelines in April in a 3-2 vote, ultimately requiring commercial mobile broadband providers to provide data roaming to other carriers "on commercially reasonable terms and conditions." The carriers offering roaming services still have the freedom to negotiate agreements with smaller carriers individually, but they can't turn someone away just because they're the Little Guy.

Rural carriers had argued in the past that it was difficult to negotiate such agreements in order to offer their subscribers better data coverage—a coalition of telecoms wrote in a letter to the FCC that their requests "are many times rejected out of hand, with a citation to the lack of a data roaming requirement in the Commission's rules."

Verizon was never a fan of the rules. The company argued in April that it had already entered into 40 data roaming agreements with smaller carriers and said that the move was a "new level of unwarranted government intervention." Verizon also said that it shouldn't have to invest in costly wireless infrastructure just so it can support its competitors who don't feel like making those same investments.

The same sentiment was evident in Verizon's appeal filed last week. The data roaming rules were "in excess of the commission’s statutory authority," the company said, because they turn the carriers into a public utility, which is outside of the FCC's wheelhouse.

The other side thinks Verizon is just trying to avoid competition, though. "It is not at all surprising that Verizon Wireless is appealing the data roaming Order," Rural Cellular Association (RCA) CEO Steven K. Berry said in a statement. "Verizon has fought competitive policies for a long time. They have opposed data roaming, they have opposed interoperability, and they have opposed putting an end to exclusive handset deals."

Berry took an extra shot at AT&T while he was at it. "In sports parlance, this is the equivalent of what you would call a ‘tag-team match,'" he said. "If AT&T is not there to fight a logical competitive policy decision, then Verizon will step in to complete the tag-team operation for the duopoly."

Verizon responded by reminding RCA that it has entered into more than 40 data roaming agreements already, including seven 4G/LTE deals. "The reason that we're filing the appeal is we just think that the voluntarily negotiated agreements have been working," a company spokesperson said.