FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 
WASHINGTON 
O F F ICE OF 
T HE CH AI RMA N 
The Honorable Todd Rokita 
U.S. House ofRepresentatives 
236 Cannon House Office Building 
Washington, D.C. 20515 
Dear Congressman Rokita: 
October 1, 2014 
Thank you for your letter regarding implementation of Phase II of the Connect America 
Fund (CAF Phase II). I appreciate your views and will ensure your letter is included in the 
record of the proceeding and considered as part of the Commission's review. 
I agree with you that robust broadband service is no longer a luxury, but rather a 
necessity for full participation in our economy and society . 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. Thus, I also agree with you that it is important that we allow all 
interested parties an opportunity to compete to bring robust broadband to rural areas through the 
receipt of support from the Connect America Fund. The Commission 's goal is to bring broadband to 
all Americans, and I believe it is critical that we have a universal program that supports any and all 
providers who are willing to step up and deliver service, consistent with the Commission ' s 
performance standards. 
In April, the Commission voted to move forward with Phase II of the Connect America 
Fund in areas served by the larger telephone companies (known as price-cap carriers). Among 
other things, the Connect America Fund Phase II Report and Order sets a term of 10 years for 
support to be awarded through a competitive bidding process in areas where the incumbent 
provider is unwilling to serve based on model-based support amounts to be offered by the 
Commission. The competitive bidding process will be open to any entity interested in serving 
eligible areas, including electric cooperatives. In addition, in an associated Further Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM), the Commission sought comment on a number of issues, 
including revising the current broadband performance obligations to require minimum speeds 
from 4 Mbps downstream to 10 Mbps downstream. We have received a robust record on these 
questions. 
As you also note, the Commission also took an important step forward in January 2014 
when, in our unanimously adopted Technology Transitions Order, we authorized experiments to 
advance the deployment of voice and broadband-capable networks in rural areas with support 
from the CAF. In order to inform our policies on building next-generation networks in rural 
America, the Commission invited parties to submit expressions of interest to determine the level 
Page 2-The Honorable Todd Rokita 
of interest in constructing high-bandwidth networks in rural, high-cost areas, including Tribal 
lands. Our initial announcement received an enthusiastic response in the form of over 1,000 
expressions of interest from a wide range of entities, including rural electric cooperatives like 
those you reference, which propose offering service over diverse technologies. 
The Rural Broadband Experiments Order adopted by the Commission at our July 2014 
Open Meeting builds on what we authorized this past January by establishing a budget of$100 
million for funding rural broadband experiments in price cap areas. The Order sets an objective, 
clear-cut methodology for selecting winning applications and outlines the conditions that 
participating entities must meet in order to receive support, including specific eligibility, build­
out, and accountability requirements. Now that we have clearly established the criteria for the 
experiments, interested entities must submit a formal application to the Commission. Applicants 
will compete nationwide for the funds , which will be awarded to projects that are most cost­
effective. We hope to have the process completed by the end of2014 because these experiments 
will allow us to explore how to structure the CAF Phase II competitive bidding process in price­
cap areas, anticipated to occur in 2015, and gather valuable information about deploying next­
generation networks in high-cost areas. 
Importantly, this effort will result in a competition-based mechanism to award universal 
support to bring broadband to rural America. Competition holds the promise of better services 
for rural America at lower costs. Better service at lower cost is the result of broadband 
competition in other areas of the country, and it is time to use that same dynamic for the benefit 
of rural America. 
I look forward to working with you as we continue to implement Phase II of the Connect 
America 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. 
~ 'f_ 
Tom Wheeler