AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson last November claimed he would pause the company's fiber investments because of the impending broadband reclassification and imposition of net neutrality rules.

"We can't go out and invest that kind of money deploying fiber to 100 cities not knowing under what rules those investments will be governed," Stephenson said at the time.

But now that the Federal Communications Commission has reclassified broadband providers as common carriers and used its Title II authority to impose net neutrality rules, Stephenson says AT&T is confident that it can keep investing. It's not because AT&T agrees with the rules, as the company has sued to overturn them. Instead, Stephenson said he is confident that either the courts or Congress will overturn or heavily alter the FCC's decision.

"The exact comment I made was we're going to put a pause on our new broadband deployment plans until we see how these rules came out," Stephenson said today in an interview with CNBC. "We have seen how the rules came out. As we read those rules, we do believe they're subject to modification by the courts and remand by the courts to the FCC."

AT&T is continuing with its investments as planned, he said. "Based on our reading of the Title II order that came out, we're operating and we're investing under the scenario that these rules will probably be changed," he said. "We don’t think this rulemaking is sustainable from a legal standpoint, but the courts will decide that. But irrespective, the Congress seems inclined to make a change here so we really think these rules will be modified to a format that will be conducive to investment in the long haul."

Legislation would provide "a more sustainable path to get net neutrality than Title II," he said.

Besides the courts and Congress, the FCC's decision could be reversed by itself under future commission leadership, Stephenson pointed out. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler could be replaced by someone with different political leanings after the next presidential election, especially if a Republican wins.

"Keep in mind, Title II was put in place with a 3-2 vote of this commission. Title II could be changed by a 3-2 vote from another commission," Stephenson said. "There's just a lot of moving parts here. We think it's unlikely the rules will stay in place like they are in the long term."

Title II, which has been used to regulate telecommunications since the 1930s, is the wrong statute to apply to "an industry that is changing really, really fast [and] attracting a lot of investment," Stephenson said.

AT&T is also asking the FCC to deregulate landline phone service—one of the slower-moving industries that AT&T operates in.

AT&T still plans to spend $18 billion on capital expenditures this year, Stephenson said. While that is down from about $22 billion last year, the $18 billion projection is unchanged from announcements AT&T made before the FCC's Title II decision.

AT&T has claimed to be considering fiber deployments in up to 100 cities, but it never revealed an exact number, making it difficult to determine whether AT&T's actual construction matches the company's internal plans.

Wheeler has said he expects Title II and net neutrality rules to survive court challenge. While Republicans in Congress have proposed various bills to alter or overturn the FCC's decision and to limit the FCC's authority to regulate broadband, they may be unable to succeed because President Obama supported the FCC's action and could use a veto.

While AT&T fights the FCC over Title II, it is asking the commission's permission to purchase DirecTV. Just as AT&T threatened to pull broadband investments if the FCC adopted Title II, AT&T claims it needs DirecTV to justify certain investments in wireless and fiber broadband.

"The area where we have struggled the most is our TV product and if you want to gain broadband share you have to have a viable TV product," Stephenson said today. If AT&T buys DirecTV, "we go from a TV product that is losing money to a TV product that is profitable, day one, overnight, that happens. Now you pair that with a broadband product, and you have a much more robust product offering. We think we'll be very successful competing against the cable guys and taking share from cable."