FEDERAL COMMUNICATIO N S COMMI SSION W ASHI NGTON OF F ICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Ed Pastor U.S. House of Representatives 2465 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman Pastor: September 19, 2014 Thank you for your letter regarding the implementation of certain aspects of Phase II of the Connect America Fund (CAF II). In your letter, you express concerns that the overall mission of the CAF II program could be endangered if the Commission increases the current broadband speed benchmark for program recipients to 10 Mbps downstream 11 Mbps upstream without allowing flexibility in other elements of the program, as well as suggest several proposals to provide such flexibility. Your views are very important and will be included in the record of the proceeding and considered as part of the Commission's review. I agree with you that high-speed broadband access is an essential component for economic growth in rural communities. The universal service program is one of the most important tools at our disposal to ensure that consumers and businesses in rural America have the same opportunities as their urban and suburban counterparts to be active participants in the United States ofthe 21st century . We are focused on updating the universal service high-cost program to ensure that we are delivering the best possible voice and broadband experiences to rural America within the confmes of our Connect America budget, while providing increased certainty and predictability for all carriers and a climate for increased broadband expansion. In April, the Commission adopted a Connect America Fund Phase 11 Report and Order to move forward with Phase II of the Connect America Fund for price-cap carriers. In addition, in an associated Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM), the Commission sought comment on a number of the issues you raise, including revising the current broadband performance obligations to require minimum speeds of 10 Mbps downstream, and applying the same performance obligations to all recipients of Phase II support and to rate-of-return carriers. The FNPRM also seeks comment on a proposal to allow CAF II recipients more flexibility in meeting their performance obligations, such as the ability to substitute locations in partially­ served census blocks for locations in the unserved census block for which it received support. The record on these issues just closed and is under consideration by Commission staff. One fmal step in the process before we can complete CAF II, which your letter references, is that we must fmalize the list of census blocks that are eligible for support. We recently initiated the CAF Jl challenge process and received a total of 178,335 challenges from parties challenging the served/unserved status of a census block. Commission staff is currently reviewing these challenges and will soon release a Public Notice giving parties 45 days to Page 2- The Honorable Ed Pastor comment on these challenges. We intend to make sure that a fair challenge process is conducted to ensure that all eligible unserved areas qualify for funding. We expect a robust record on these topics and I welcome a dialogue with stakeholders about how best to accomplish our shared objectives. I look forward to working with you as we continue reforming and modernizing the universal service fund high-cost program - as well as other components of the Fund - to ensure that all Americans have access to robust voice and broadband services. I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know ifl can be of any further assistance. Tom Wheeler F EDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASH INGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIHMAN The Honorable Raul Grijalva U.S. House of Representatives September 19, 2014 1511 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman Grijalva: Thank you for your letter regarding the implementation of certain aspects of Phase II of the Connect America Fund (CAF II). In your letter, you express concerns that the overall mission of the CAF II program could be endangered if the Commission increases the current broadband speed benchmark for program recipients to 10 Mbps downstream / 1 Mbps upstream without allowing flexibility in other elements of the program, as well as suggest several proposals to provide such flexibility. Your views are very important and will be included in the record of the proceeding and considered as part of the Commission's review. I agree with you that high-speed broadband access is an essential component for economic growth in rural communities. The universal service program is one of the most important tools at our disposal to ensure that consumers and businesses in rural America have the same opportunities as their urban and suburban counterparts to be active participants in the United States of the 21st century. We are focused on updating the universal service high-cost program to ensure that we are delivering the best possible voice and broadband experiences to rural America within the confmes of our Connect America budget, while providing increased certainty and predictability for all carriers and a climate for increased broadband expansion. In April, the Commission adopted a Connect America Fund Phase II Report and Order to move forward with Phase II of the Connect America Fund for price-cap carriers. In addition, in an associated Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FN PRM), the Commission sought comment on a number of the issues you raise, including revising the current broadband performance obligations to require minimum speeds of 10 Mbps downstream, and applying the same performance obligations to all recipients ofPhase II support and to rate-of-return carriers. The FNPRM also seeks comment on a proposal to allow CAF II recipients more flexibility in meeting their perfonnance obligations, such as the ability to substitute locations in partially­ served census blocks for locations in the unserved census block for which it received support. The record on these issues just closed and is under consideration by Commission staff. One fmal step in the process before we can complete CAF II, which your letter references, is that we must fmalize the list of census blocks that are eligible for support. We recently initiated the CAF II challenge process and received a total of 178,335 challenges from parties challenging the served/unserved status of a census block. Commission staff is currently reviewing these challenges and will soon release a Public Notice giving parties 45 days to Page 2- The Honorable Raul Grijalva comment on these challenges. We intend to make sure that a fair challenge process is conducted to ensure that all eligible unserved areas qualify for funding. We expect a robust record on these topics and I welcome a dialogue with stakeholders about how best to accomplish our shared objectives. I look forward to working with you as we continue reforming and modernizing the universal service fund high-cost program - as well as other components of the Fund - to ensure that all Americans have access to robust voice and broadband services. I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know ifl can be of any further assistance. ~~J;t!- Tom Wheeler FEDERAL COMMUN ICATIONS COMMISSION W ASHINGTON OFFICF OF THL CliAIRMAN The Honorable Ann Kirkpatrick U.S. House of Representatives 330 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congresswoman Kirkpatrick: September 19, 2014 Thank you for your letter regarding the implementation of certain aspects of Phase II of the Connect America Fund (CAF II). In your letter, you express concerns that the overall mission of the CAF II program could be endangered if the Commission increases the current broadband speed benchmark for program recipients to 10 Mbps downstream 11 Mbps upstream without allowing flexibility in other elements of the program, as well as suggest several proposals to provide such flexibility. Your views are very important and will be included in the record of the proceeding and considered as part of the Commission's review. I agree with you that high-speed broadband access is an essential component for economic growth in rural communities. The universal service program is one of the most important tools at our disposal to ensure that consumers and businesses in rural America have the same opportunities as their urban and suburban counterparts to be active participants in the United States of the 21st century. We are focused on updating the universal service high-cost program to ensure that we are delivering the best possible voice and broadband experiences to rural America within the confmes of our Connect America budget, while providing increased certainty and predictability for all carriers and a climate for increased broadband expansion. In April, the Commission adopted a Connect America Fund Phase II Report and Order to move forward with Phase II of the Connect America Fund for price-cap carriers. In addition, in an associated Further Notice of Proposed Rulernaking (FNPRM), the Commission sought comment on a number of the issues you raise, including revising the current broadband performance obligations to require minimum speeds of 10 Mbps downstream, and applying the same performance obligations to all recipients of Phase II support and to rate-of-return carriers. The FNPRM also seeks comment on a proposal to allow CAF II recipients more flexibility in meeting their performance obligations, such as the ability to substitute locations in partially ­ served census blocks for locations in the unserved census block for which it received support. The record on these issues just closed and is under consideration by Commission staff. One fmal step in the process before we can complete CAF II, which your letter references, is that we must fmalize the list of census blocks that are eligible for support. We recently initiated the CAF II challenge process and received a total of 178,33 5 challenges from parties challenging the served/unserved status of a census block. Commission staff is currently reviewing these challenges and will soon release a Public Notice giving parties 45 days to Page 2- The Honorable Ann Kirkpatrick comment on these challenges. We intend to make sure that a fair challenge process is conducted to ensure that all eligible unserved areas qualify for funding. We expect a robust record on these topics and l welcome a dialogue with stakeholders about how best to accomplish our shared objectives. I look forward to working with you as we continue reforming and modernizing the universal service fund high-cost program - as well as other components of the Fund - to ensure that all Americans have access to robust voice and broadband services. I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance. Tom Wheeler