The FCC’s actions on net neutrality have made Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., skeptical of the commission’s proposal to hold voluntary incentive auctions, the House Communications Subcommittee chairman said in a keynote speech for the Media Institute. The subcommittee plans a spectrum hearing in April, he said. Earlier, speaking at a Consumer Federation of America event about a coming House floor vote on net neutrality, Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., of the parent Commerce Committee said Democrats hope to send a message that the GOP effort to reverse the FCC rules won’t withstand a presidential veto.

The FCC went on the defensive Wednesday, saying it had implemented 80 percent of the National Broadband Plan, countering media reports that more than half of the plan’s recommendations were lingering in the agency’s backlog. Of the action items released in April, 80 percent have been completed, a commission spokesman said Wednesday. The broadband plan’s first anniversary is Thursday. The plan carried 218 recommendations with it, but only about half involved the FCC’s jurisdiction, the spokesman said. Another quarter involved Congress and the rest went to state and local regulators, the spokesman said.

CTIA President Steve Largent is pleased with the amount of attention spectrum issues are getting at the FCC and of Capitol Hill, he said Wednesday, as the group prepares for its annual meeting next week in Orlando. Largent said he’s optimistic Congress will approve legislation authorizing the FCC to conduct incentive auctions for TV spectrum. “This really is a critical timeframe for the wireless industry,” Largent said in an interview. “We have a number of issues that are before policymakers, regulators and legislators alike, and we're working very, very hard on those."

A complaint against a $66.4 million Rural Utilities Service stimulus project in Minnesota urged the Department of Agriculture’s inspector general to investigate and suspend the program before the investigation is completed. The complaint by Mediacom alleged that the project isn’t financially viable and lacks the legal authority to create the network. The troubled operation of Vermont municipal broadband company Burlington Telecom was cited in the complaint, due to the project’s appointment of a former Burlington Telecom executive.

The FCC is preparing a notice of inquiry asking how to integrate broadband alerts into next-generation 911, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Deputy Chief Jennifer Manner said Wednesday. The inquiry will be broadly worded -- focusing on such questions as what should be covered and how to coordinate with other agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- and will come out in the late spring or early summer, Manner said. She spoke on a panel about the National Broadband Plan’s first anniversary.

Wireless carriers and cable companies aren’t “hoarding” spectrum, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a speech at a Mobile Futures conference Wednesday, answering in part accusations lobbed by the NAB against the NCTA (CD March 2 p11). But he also offered reassurance to broadcasters, clarifying that a proposed incentive auction will be voluntary and acknowledging that broadcast TV remains critical.

Policymakers from the FTC and the Commerce Department urged tougher privacy protections that offer more choices for consumers. They testified Wednesday at an online privacy hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said he will introduce a measure that would balance consumer privacy protections with online ad interests. The purpose of this “commercial privacy bill of rights” is to encourage information sharing, “but under a common code of conduct that respects the rights of both the people sharing the information and legitimate organizations collecting and using it on fair terms and conditions,” he said.

Pole owners should have 178 days maximum for make-ready work under coming FCC rules, CTIA and a membership section of PCIA said in separate filings posted Wednesday on the commission’s website in docket 07-245. PCIA said it would settle for 148-day deadlines in cases in which “multiparty cooperation is not required.” A Sunesys filing called deadlines “unquestionably needed” but didn’t specify what they should be. The Edison Electric Institute said in filings that telcos are glibly ignoring complications that can foul up deadlines, and the commission must “adopt strong incentives to ensure … the safety and reliability” of the power grid.

CTIA and the Rural Cellular Association jointly asked the FCC to prohibit the future licensing of TV stations on channel 51 and freeze all applications for new or modified broadcast facilities seeking to operate on the channel. The groups also said the commission should accelerate clearance of channel 51 where incumbent broadcasters have agreed to move to an alternate position.

Mobile satellite service operators have widely disparate views on the evolution of the MSS industry, CEOs said on a panel at the Satellite 2011 conference in Washington on Wednesday. Each of the companies pointed to different visions they said would drive growth in the industry.