The FCC's Enforcement Bureau launched an investigation after news reports suggested that Verizon Wireless had successfully requested that Google block Verizon's customers from accessing tethering applications from its online market, the FCC said.

At that time, Verizon Wireless' terms of service required all customers who wanted to use their phones for tethering to subscribe to the company's Mobile Broadband Connect service, at an additional charge.

Verizon Wireless said the additional fee was because customers who tether laptops or other devices have the capability to use more data capacity than others. But Verizon Wireless, at the time, required all customers, including those who paid incrementally for data use, to pay the fee, the FCC said.

As part of the agreement, Verizon will notify app stores that it no longer objects to third-party tethering apps, the FCC said.

Free Press praised the FCC action. "Today's action makes it clear that Verizon was flaunting its obligations as a spectrum-license holder and engaging in anti-competitive behavior that harmed consumers and innovation," Free Press policy director Matt Wood said in a statement. "The FCC sent a strong signal to the market that companies cannot ignore their pro-consumer obligations."