Innovative wireless health technologies can overcome healthcare barriers for veterans in rural areas, speakers said Thursday during a House Health Subcommittee hearing. “For the three million veterans living in rural areas, access to health care remains a key barrier, as they simply live too far away from the nearest VA medical center,” said Chairman Michael Michaud, D-Maine. Given certain barriers, “it is no surprise that our rural veterans have worse health outcomes compared to the general population.” If wireless technology is utilized effectively, “it can be a tremendous benefit, especially for rural veterans,” said Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.

The FCC plans to complete a USF overhaul next year, said Commissioner Meredith Baker at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Thursday. Baker and her two FCC colleagues on the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service -- Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps -- agreed USF was broken. But they disagreed whether they could revamp USF without first reclassifying broadband transport under Title II of the Communications Act.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee marked up a comprehensive cybersecurity defense measure that critics claim gives the president a “kill switch” to shut down the Internet if the president declares a national emergency. But that’s not accurate, say the bill’s authors, who say it actually limits presidential power that already exists to halt Internet traffic. The bill, S-3480, would establish a national cybersecurity center and a formal cybersecurity czar appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate (WID June 11 p1). It also requires owners of infrastructure deemed critical to the nation to adopt a range of security measures that they would choose to meet security requirements.

The FCC’s broadband policy continues to actively encourage investment in broadband and innovation, said Chairman Julius Genachowski at the Future of the City forum late Wednesday. Staffs at the FCC are running a consultation process with many broadband stakeholders on an ongoing basis, he said in an interview after his speech. The Comcast decision is something that everyone’s interested in so it’s important to consult with stakeholders, he said, regarding FCC’s closed-door meetings on broadband rules (CD June 23 p1).

Viacom said it will appeal a federal judge’s order granting Google’s motion for summary judgment in their long-running YouTube copyright litigation. “We believe that the ruling by the lower court is fundamentally flawed and contrary to the language of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the intent of Congress and the views of the Supreme Court expressed in its most recent decisions,” Viacom said. “After years of delay, this decision gives us the opportunity to have the Appellate Court address these critical issues on an accelerated basis.” Google called the judge’s ruling a win.

Free Press took its objections to closed-door meetings at the FCC to discuss key broadband issues (CD June 17 p1) to the readers of The Washington Post, running a full-page ad in the paper Wednesday. The group has been generally supportive of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in the past. Public interest group officials told us they are unhappy they are not at the table as a possible deal is discussed at the agency.

The FCC denied the Qwest Phoenix forbearance petition after applying a market power analysis that didn’t find sufficient facilities-based competition for retail mass market services in the Phoenix area “to meet Section 10 criteria for unbundled network element forbearance.” The order is accompanied by a public notice seeking comment on using the same market power standard for outstanding remand forbearance orders and future forbearance requests. Statements from Commissioners Meredith Baker and Robert McDowell supported the decision, but cautioned against setting the bar too high for future forbearance petitions, including the Verizon 6 and Qwest 4 remands.

The FCC, as expected, approved the transfer of spectrum licenses covering 79 markets in 18 states from Verizon Wireless to AT&T, fulfilling a condition imposed on Verizon by regulators when it acquired Alltel in 2008. Commissioner Michael Copps said the order highlights the “continuing unacceptable state” of telecom service in most of Indian country.

Wireless Strategies and the FCC Wireless Bureau need to answer several questions on the effect of distributed radiating elements on satellite communications before the agency moves forward on a rulemaking on the subject, the Satellite Industry Association said in a filing on WSI’s proposal on DREs. WSI proposed deploying DREs as a way to increase reuse of microwave frequencies in 2007. The proposal saw new light recently when it was referenced in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan. The bureau is preparing to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to make changes to part 101 of the FCC’s rules which govern fixed microwave services and has sought some industry input before moving forward, the SIA said in a filing. The association has met with the International Bureau and the Office of the Engineering and Technology in recent months to voice its concerns on the issue.

Public interest groups on both sides of the net neutrality and broadband reclassification debates said the FCC should release full details of closed-door meetings that started Monday at the FCC with various industry players to discuss a possible compromise on how to give the FCC authority over broadband, without changing how carriers are regulated. While the first meeting was aimed at possibly providing advice to Congress on legislation, many key lawmakers also had not been told beforehand, Hill sources said.