WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials said Tuesday that the president continues to support a free and open Internet, but that he cannot order the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify broadband service as a utility that is subject to the same rules and rate regulation as local telephone service.

The statement was a response to an online petition that has attracted more than 105,000 signatures since Jan. 14, when a federal appeals court ruled that the FCC had overstepped its authority in drafting rules requiring Internet service providers to treat equally all traffic that passes through their pipes, rather than giving priority to some traffic — presumably from companies willing to pay for the privilege.