FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 
WASHINGTON 
OFFICE OF 
TH E CHAIR M AN 
The I Ionorable Tom Cole 
U.S. House of Representatives 
2458 Rayburn House Office Building 
Washington, D.C. 20515 
Dear Congressman Cole: 
January 23,2015 
Thank you for your letter regarding the implementation of certain aspects of Phase 11 of 
the Connect America Fund (CAF II). In your letter, you urge the Commission to create an 
inclusive process where all eligible providers, including electric cooperatives, have an 
opportunity to compete for support. You also express support for comments filed by the 
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). NRECA requests that under the 
CAF II process, areas in which a proposal for a rural broadband experiment is submitted should 
be excluded from a price cap carrier's right of first refusal. Your views are very important and 
will be included in the record of the proceeding. 
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 21 51 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 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 A me rica Fund Phase If Report and Order to 
move forward with Connect America for price-cap carriers. In that Order, the Commission 
sought to encourage a variety of providers to participate in the competitive bidding process 
meant to award support for service in high-cost and extremely high-cost areas. Potential bidders 
in the CAF 11 competitive bidding process will not be required to be eligible telecommunications 
carTiers (ETCs) at the time they initially apply for funding. The Commission will permit entities 
to obtain ETC designation from either a state public utility commission pursuant to section 
214( e )(2), or the Commission pursuant to section 214( e)( 6) of the Act, even after the 
announcement of winning bidders. 
This December, the Commission adopted a CAF 11 Order that adopts NRECA's proposal 
regarding the right of first refusal. The Commission removes the price cap carrier's right of first 
refusal for those areas awarded rural broadband experiments. We believe that consumers in 
these areas may benefit by receiving higher-quality service from a competitor at or below the 
offer of model-based support. 
Page 2- The Honorable Tom Cole 
I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know if I can be of any further 
assistance. 
Sincerely, 
Tom Wheeler