Google and Verizon Communications Thursday rebuffed a recent New York Times’ (NYT) report that the companies were entering into an agreement which will allow the carrier to get priority to certain Web content on its fixed-line networks. 

The Times report suggested that a Google-Verizon deal would apparently lead to the emergence of a new tiered system in which consumers will have to pay higher costs for premium levels of service.; thereby chipping away at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s net neutrality principle which aims at doing away with the favoring of any particular content.

While the Times’ spokesperson Diane McNulty said that the newspaper stood by its report which was based on the information forwarded by ‘inside’ sources familiar with the proceedings, Verizon said in a statement that the report is “mistaken” and fundamentally misapprehends the intentions of the carrier.

The Verizon statement said: “Our goal is an Internet policy framework that ensures openness and accountability, and incorporates specific FCC authority, while maintaining investment and innovation. To suggest this is a business arrangement between our companies is entirely incorrect.”

Meanwhile, Google also refuted the Times report, with the company’s spokeswoman Mistique Cano saying that the Internet search giant, as always, remains committed to an open Internet. Adding that the NYT report is wrong, Cano said that Google had not worked out any deal with Verizon about paying for carriage of Google or YouTube traffic.