FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS CO M MISSION 
WASHINGTON 
OFFICE O F 
THE CHAIRMAN 
The Honorable Patrick T. McHenry 
U.S. House ofRepresentatives 
2334 Rayburn House Office Building 
Washington, D.C. 20515 
Dear Congressman McHenry: 
October 24, 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 /1 Mbps upstream 
without allowing flexibility in other elements of the program, particularly with respect to the 
length of the term of support. Your views are very important and will be included in the record 
of the proceeding and considered as part of the Commission's review. 
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 areas of states such as North Carolina, 
within the confmes of our Connect America budget, all while providing increased certainty and 
predictability for all carriers, and a climate for increased broadband expansion. 
In April of this year, 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 Rule making (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 rate-of-return carriers. 
The FNPRM also seeks comment on proposals to allow CAF II recipients more flexibility in 
meeting their performance obligations, including whether to extend the term of support for CAF 
II recipients, and permit recipients to substitute locations in partially served census blocks for 
locations in the unserved census block for which they receive support. We have received a 
robust record on these issues, and they are under consideration by Commission staff. 
You also expressed your concern that the Commission ensure that eligible households not 
be excluded from CAF II funding. We take this concern very seriously. We are currently 
Page 2-The Honorable Patrick T. McHenry 
fmalizing the list of census blocks that are eligible for support. To ensure that this list is as 
accurate as possible, we have a challenge process in place where parties can identify alleged 
problems with the broadband map. As part of that process, the Commission has received a total 
of 178,335 challenges from parties on the served/unserved status of census blocks. Commission 
staff is currently reviewing these challenges and seeking public comment on the challenges. We 
intend to make sure that a fair challenge process is conducted so that all eligible unserved areas 
qualify for funding. 
I welcome a dialogue with stakeholders as to 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 Universal 
Service Fund- to ensure that all Americans have access to robust voice and broadband services. 
Please let me know if 1 can be of any further assistance. 
Sincerely , 
~ 
Tom Wheeler