A $126.3 million West Virginia BTOP project designed to connect schools and other public facilities sparked questions from the state board of education about its progress. But that was largely due to misunderstanding the project, said Dana Waldo, senior vice president with Frontier West Virginia, the project’s major contractor. He claimed the project is ahead of schedule and will be completed on time. This wasn’t the first time the state’s education officials expressed concerns about the slow pace and lack of communication on the project (CD Nov 1 p6).

The FCC proposed Wednesday to require Dish Network to build out to at least 70 percent of the population in each of the geographic areas it’s licensed to provide terrestrial service in within seven years. The proposal is part of the agency’s notice of proposed rulemaking that would convert the 2 GHz band from satellite-only spectrum to combined satellite and wireless spectrum. The agency also asked for input on a possible alternative band plan for the spectrum, which would be renamed as AWS-4, making use of nearby spectrum (http://xrl.us/bmy2oj).

The FCC wants to know if 19-year-old procedures need updating for how the agency processes pay-TV complaints that a rival withheld a channel. A rulemaking notice released late Tuesday -- in time to avoid a vote at Wednesday’s commissioner meeting (CD March 21 p17) -- asked how or whether to consider allegations of volume discounts or across-the-board cost hikes for programming meant to price all but programming the cable operator owns out of the market. The item contained a few proposals. It recommended a 45-day period for various types of anti-exclusivity complaints made under the 1992 Cable Act to be answered, and to the extent types of programming like regional sports networks (RSN) can’t be withheld, the HD version must be provided to a multichannel video programming distributor.

A European Commission roadmap for the future of satellite navigation system Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS) began moving through the European Parliament Wednesday. Lawmakers in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee said they're generally enthusiastic about the programs, which are seen as a way to boost European growth, competitiveness and clout, but they remain wary about the cost overruns that have plagued Galileo. Questions about financing and governance remain, they said.

Verizon Executive Vice President Tom Tauke Tuesday said Congress should sweep aside current communications law and regulation, replacing it with new legislation tailored to a world of competition. The current law “just is not relevant to the marketplace in which we live and in which we operate,” Tauke said at a Free State Foundation conference. But Tauke, a former Republican member of the House from Iowa, conceded legislation is always a tough slog.

Congress needs to revisit whether the telecom industry needs two regulatory bodies -- the FCC and the Department of Justice -- conducting merger reviews, several industry executives said during a Free State Foundation panel Tuesday. Jim Cicconi, AT&T senior executive vice president-external and legislative affairs, doesn’t think the FCC role here is essential. “We learned last year that the Department of Justice is very capable of deciding to kill a merger on their own,” he said to chuckles. The FCC’s tendency to require “voluntary conditions” on a merger is a notion designed to effect results that the Commission would otherwise have no authority over, he said, arguing the Commission has used such conditions as a “substitute for a formal rulemaking process” and to avoid the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.

The FCC will continue to monitor how much spectrum the wireless industry needs, and could offer some new projections over the next year or so, Wireless Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan said Tuesday at a Free State Foundation conference. On the two-year anniversary of the National Broadband Plan last week, Blair Levin, manager of the plan, and Commissioner Robert McDowell both called for another look at spectrum projections (CD March 19 p1).

SILICON VALLEY -- Pay-TV distributors will soon begin offering video services outside their traditional service areas, executives at digital media companies said Tuesday at OTTCON (http://xrl.us/bmywbh). “There’s a little hesitation to be the first company to go, but I think lots of them are thinking about this and some of them, very seriously,” said Anthony Wood, CEO of Roku. “This doesn’t exist today but I think it’s going to happen and probably this year,” he said.

The FCC cleared the way for more than 1,000 FM translator stations to go on-air in two items that also start work on an upcoming opportunity for tribes and community groups to seek new low-power stations on that band. An order and a rulemaking notice released Monday night appeared to largely track with drafts the Media Bureau circulated for a vote (CD Feb 9 p6), which commissioners approved as also expected (CD March 8 p12) before Wednesday’s agency meeting. The items said new rules for a 2003 application window for translators will expand the pool of construction permits issued from Auction 83 by 29 percent to 4,500 and possibly more. The next window for LPFM seekers to get permits for those stations may be the last, the commission said, asking about changes to some ownership rules.

The FCC, which has reformed some of its other Universal Service Fund programs, will continue to work toward completing all of its reform efforts, including reform of the rural healthcare program, Wireline Bureau Chief Sharon Gillett said at a Broadband Breakfast Club briefing Tuesday. Other speakers cited healthcare licensing regulations and outdated healthcare infrastructure as barriers to expanding broadband-enabled healthcare.