WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Tuesday that Charter Communications Inc was abandoning its request to drop some merger conditions ahead of schedule as part of its 2016 tie-up with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

Last year, Charter sought approval by the FCC to end a prohibition on imposing data caps and usage-based pricing mechanisms as well as a requirement for Charter to offer to connect its Internet protocol network to any qualifying entity free of charge. The conditions will remain in effect until May 2023, the FCC said. (Reporting by David Shepardson)