Legislators urged tightened security of veterans’ health and financial information at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In a House Veterans Affairs Oversight Subcommittee hearing Wednesday, Democrats and Republicans grilled department officials on steps they're taking to prevent breaches. Roger Baker, chief information officer of the department, admitted weaknesses but cited progress shifting the department’s culture to preclude future threats.

Required state approvals in hand and anticipating a nod soon from the FCC, Frontier Communications hopes to close its acquisition of networks and long-distance business from Verizon as soon as June 30, a company spokesman said. Regardless of the timing, for the first 30 to 45 days after the closing, Frontier’s focus will be melding its company culture with Verizon’s, Steven Crosby, the company’s senior vice president for government and corporate affairs, told us. “Systems are very cut-and-dried,” Crosby said. “You work with them, you test them, you get them right. The biggest job here is cultural integration."

A new digital agenda is the “first flagship that is leaving the port” in Europe’s effort to jump-start its economy and catch up with global competitors, Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said Wednesday. Part of the EU 2020 strategy, the plan focuses on seven priorities, including the promise of broadband for all by 2013 and access to increased online content through changes in copyright licensing and online payment regimes. It won praise, and a few complaints, from industry and rights groups.

Rural telephone companies are bracing for a less sympathetic Congress in 2011, said executives from rural telco associations. They spoke with reporters at the annual legislative and regulatory conference of the Western Telecom Alliance and the Organization for the Promotion & Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies. WTA and OPASTCO members from around the country arrived in droves to lobby Washington policymakers about their concerns with the National Broadband Plan. They heard remarks Tuesday from long-time rural advocate Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who’s set to retire this year, as well as Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought comment on interoperability, out-of-band emissions and equipment certification rules for a proposed public-safety broadband network using 700 MHz spectrum. A public notice Tuesday from the bureau builds on preliminary rules that 21 local governments which won waivers last week will have to follow if they build out systems early (CD May 13 p1).

Broadcast and wireless industry representatives agreed that additional stations probably will look at taking part in the spectrum auction the FCC sought in the National Broadband Plan. Speaking at a Media Institute lunch Tuesday, President David Donovan of the Association for Maximum Service TV and CTIA Vice President Chris Guttman-McCabe agreed that the voluntary approach the commission is taking to the mobile-future auction is best. They agreed on little else and often interrupted each other and occasionally moderator Richard Wiley.

LOS ANGELES -- Although cable operators can offer 3D-TV pictures to viewers in a “frame compatible” mode today, much work remains to boost the viewing quality and experience of stereoscopic video images beamed to the home, industry experts on an NCTA convention panel said last week. They outlined cable’s initial approach of offering frame-compatible 3D-TV signals, which don’t offer full-resolution images but also don’t demand major changes in the industry’s existing video-delivery infrastructure. Using the frame-compatible approach, cable operators send separate left-eye and right-eye images in a side-by-side format or stacked top and bottom.

CTIA and two Louisiana Public Service Commission members asked the FCC to reverse a requirement by the Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC) that AT&T, T-Mobile and TracFone repay money they got for providing free wireless service after Hurricane Katrina almost five years ago. The carriers provided service under an emergency FCC program that provided $39 million in Lifeline money to help hurricane victims and temporarily made each an eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC). A USAC audit later found that the carriers had failed to provide adequate documentation.

Operators worldwide are still expected to deploy HSPA+ (Evolved High-Speed Packet Access), a wireless broadband technology, even as they move aggressively to LTE, company officials told us. Meanwhile, AT&T plans to move from the current planned rollout of HSPA 7.2 to HSPA+, a spokesman said.

Broadcast and cable groups were among those seeking more time to get ready for a new technology that can geographically target emergency alerts across broadcasters, subscription-video providers and wireless services. Comments to the FCC from the NAB, the NCTA and Monroe Electronics, a maker of emergency alert system (EAS) gear, seek longer than the maximum of 180 days that the commission gives EAS participants to configure their networks to accept alerts based the Common Alerting Protocol after the technical standards are published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA has said the alerts may be adopted by the third quarter, the NCTA noted. FEMA has lagged in coming up with the standards. It had hoped to come up with guidelines for them in 2008 (CD May 30/07 p2).