The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear en banc an FTC appeal of a panel ruling that threw out the commission's case against AT&T Mobility alleging it inadequately informed customers of its data-throttling program (see 1608290032).

A federal court denied appeals of a 2016 panel ruling that upheld the FCC's net neutrality and broadband reclassification order under Title II of the Communications Act. The petitions for rehearing en banc of the June three-judge ruling were rejected by a majority of the active judges of the U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in an order Monday in USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063.

The FCC issued a draft rulemaking notice that proposes to reverse broadband Title II reclassification under the Communications Act and eliminate an internet conduct standard, as expected. It's also seeking comment on how to address open internet rules. Chairman Ajit Pai, who previewed the item in a speech Wednesday, put the draft NPRM on the tentative agenda Thursday for commissioners' May 18 meeting.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a speech at the Newseum Wednesday he is circulating to the two other commissioners a rulemaking notice that would reverse the 2015 reregulation of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service, as expected. Pai said he will release the full text of the draft NPRM Thursday afternoon for a vote at the May 18 commissioners’ meeting. The FCC later posted on its website two fact sheets (here and here) and a copy of Pai's Newseum speech, which we attended.

Among incentive auction results drawing analyst interest shortly after the FCC identified winning bidders were Dish Network winning 486 licenses for $6.2 billion through ParkerB.com Wireless and Comcast getting 73 blocks and $1.7 billion in licenses through CC Wireless. Our earlier bulletin incorrectly listed the winning totals for those two companies.

A total of 50 wireless carriers bid $19.8 billion in the TV incentive auction, the FCC said Thursday. The FCC said 175 broadcasters elected to participate in the auction -- of those, 30 stations will get money for agreeing to move to a lower channel and 133 others will give up their licenses. The FCC also announced new channel assignments, and effective dates, for 957 nonwinning stations that must change channels as a result of the auction, with the first phase of stations set to relocate by Nov. 30, 2018. The largest payout for a single TV station was $304 million.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed Thursday that AT&T was selected as head of a team to build the national communications network for first responders (see here and here), during an event this morning (see here). AT&T will spend $40 billion to build and operate the network, creating 10,000 U.S. jobs, said CEO Randall Stephenson. The deal is for 25 years. Motorola Solutions confirmed it's involved, and AT&T identified others, too, which a FirstNet spokeswoman confirmed to us are participating.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he would seek to undo the agency's process for designating Lifeline broadband providers (LBP). Pai said Wednesday he supported including broadband in the Lifeline low-income subsidy program but that the federal LBP process bypassed state authority to designate eligible telecom carriers (ETCs). He noted 12 states had mounted a legal challenge to the LBP process, in a case that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has put on hold while the FCC considers its course.

The FirstNet board Tuesday formally approved the selection of a team to build the national network for first responders, as we previously reported was likely to occur today. FirstNet didn’t announce that AT&T had won the contract, though that choice is widely expected. The contracting process and resulting court case remain shrouded in secrecy amid federal contracting rules and a potential appeal.

Staff in several FCC bureaus, sometimes acting jointly, undid numerous actions from the administration of then-Chairman Tom Wheeler. All withdrawn Friday afternoon: a report raising questions on zero rating practices of AT&T and Verizon; an inquiry about Comcast's video streaming practices; staff guidance that could have placed additional standards of review on mergers and acquisitions of TV stations involving some resource and other sharing pacts; actions on TV station political advertising that highlighted a need for disclosure of certain information; and a report on E-rate modernization. Other actions effectively canceled were on cybersecurity and 5G device security.