FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISS ION W AS HI NGTON OFFICE OF THE CHA I RMAN The Honorable Michael Crapo United States Senate 239 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Crapo: September 19, 20 14 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 Commissionls 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 (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. 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. Page 2-The Honorable Michael Crapo I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know ifl can be of any further assistance. Sincerely, F EDERAL C O MMUN IC AT IONS COMMISSION W ASH INGTON Of riC I: 0~ THF CHAIRMAN The Honorable Raul Labrador U.S. House of Representatives September 19, 2014 1523 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman Labrador: 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 (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 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 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. 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. Page 2- The Honorable Raul Labrador I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know ifl can be of any further assistance. Sincerely, ~heeler OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Jim Risch United States Senate FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WA S HIN GTON September 19,2014 483 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Risch: Thank you for your letter regarding the implementation of certain aspects ofPhase 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 e lements 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 ofthe 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 confines 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 Furl her 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 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. 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. Page 2- The Honorable Jim Risch I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know ifl can be of any further assistance. Sincerely, d:t1 Tom Wheeler FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION W AS H INGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Mike Simpson U.S. House of Representatives 2312 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman Simpson: 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 ofthe 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 Commissionls 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 /1 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 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. We expect a robust record on these topics and 1 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. Page 2- The Honorable Mike Simpson I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know ifl can be of any further assistance.