The FCC approved rules reclassifying broadband as a common carrier service Thursday by a 3-2 vote before a standing-room only crowd at FCC headquarters. After months of fighting and a failed last stand by FCC Republicans, there were few surprises left by the time commissioners voted. The action now shifts to the courts and to Congress, industry officials said.

In reforming its designated entity (DE) rules, the FCC should start offering bidding credits to carriers that qualify as a “rural telephone company,” said the Rural Wireless Association in comments filed at the FCC in docket 12-268. CTIA urged the FCC to narrow its "former defaulter" rule, which requires bidders to make larger upfront payments for licenses if they ever defaulted on a license or were delinquent on a debt owed to a federal agency.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler plans to press ahead with Thursday’s scheduled vote on his draft net neutrality order, an agency spokeswoman said, despite growing pressure from Republicans to delay the vote. Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Ajit Pai urged Chairman Tom Wheeler Monday to make his draft net neutrality order public and “allow the American people a reasonable period of not less than 30 days to carefully study it.” House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, also called for the draft to be made public in a letter to Wheeler (see 1502230064).

Oral argument Friday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit between content companies and the FCC over the release of confidential contract information in the FCC review of the Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV deals isn’t expected to swing those deal proceedings’ results, said analysts and attorneys in interviews Thursday. Oral argument is of interest to investors and others following the transaction, though. There’s “some interest among investors in what the case means" for the deals, said Guggenheim Partners analyst Paul Gallant. “The case probably won’t drive the yes/no decision on the deals.”

An FCC order clarifying intercarrier compensation rules for calls originating with VoIP will aid the IP transition by ensuring the transition “is not impeded by outdated technological distinctions,” Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a Wednesday statement. The order, which passed on a party-line vote, settles as expected (see 1410280032) disputes arising from the USF/intercarrier compensation (ICC) order by clarifying retroactively that carriers who partner with VoIP providers are entitled to the same compensation as others when they exchange voice traffic.

A draft order on establishing air-ground (ATG) mobile broadband service for aircraft passengers in the 14.0 to 14.5 GHz band was removed from circulation Feb. 6 amid national security concerns, FCC officials said. It was circulated Jan. 23, according to the agency's public list of circulated items. The Association of Flight Attendants raised concerns in a Feb. 5 comment in docket 13-114 that the system could increase the risk of terrorism and cyberwarfare (see 1502060034). Federal law enforcement also raised concerns.

Waivers to the proposed paid prioritization ban in FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s draft net neutrality order (see 1502040055) would be subject to more stringent standards than those for other commission rules, an agency official told us. Public interest groups hailed that aspect of the order, with the caveat that they hadn't seen the language.

PCIA is not taking any position on net neutrality or whether the FCC should reclassify broadband as a Communications Act Title II service, PCIA President Jonathan Adelstein said Tuesday during a news conference. The former commissioner left before the agency took up the first set of rules in 2010. AT&T and Verizon executives have warned that reclassification will mean less investment in networks.

Capitol Hill’s tools of FCC oversight and overhaul are piling up. Just as committee leaders announced investigations into White House influence over net neutrality (see 1502090049) and another lawmaker his intentions to reauthorize the agency formally (see 1502030039), Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., introduced his more ambitious FCC process overhaul bill, which industry lobbyists have told us is likelier to move this Congress. A Senate Republican staffer also said there is interest in bringing the commissioners before the Commerce Committee in the weeks ahead.

Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, representing SmartSky Networks, asked the commission to reiterate that the 14.0-14.5 GHz band won’t be the exclusive one for air-ground communications and won’t limit these services in other licensed or unlicensed bands, said an ex parte letter filed Friday. Qualcomm supported the use of the 14.0-14.5 GHz band for air-ground service to offer customers "an in-flight mobile broadband experience that is equivalent to what is available on the ground today," it said in a comment Thursday. Earlier, a group representing flight attendants raised safety concerns about the proposal (see 1502060034). “We have been -- and will continue -- to work with all relevant safety and security federal agencies to ensure that the risks of in-flight communications are carefully considered and addressed before moving forward," emailed an FCC spokesman.