FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Michelle Lujan Grisham U.S. House of Representatives 214 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congresswoman Grisham: January 29, 2015 Thank you for your letter supporting the rural broadband experiments application submitted by The High Plains Regional Education Cooperative and Terastream Broadband (Terastream). Your views are very important and will be included in the record of the proceeding. In January of last year, the Commission initiated an experiment to inform om policies to build the next generation networks in rural America and invited proposals on whether there is interest in constructing high-bandwidth networks in high-cost areas . This experiment has allowed us to explore how to structure the CAF Phase II competitive bidding process in price-cap areas and gather valuable information about deploying next-generation networks in high-cost areas. We issued an invitation, and the response was astounding. We received nearly 1,000 expressions of interest from all parts of the country and from a wide range of entities, including rural telephone companies, rural electric co-ops, cable and wireless service providers, schools and libraries, research and education networks, and communities. In July 2014, we adopted a $100 million budget for the rural broadband experiments and established an objective methodology for selecting projects an1ong formal applications, which were due between October 23 and November 7, 2014. In total, 181 applicants proposed to serve over 76,000 census blocks in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. On December 5, 2014, we announced the provisionally selected bidders. The provisionally selected bidders bid on support to cover 26,867 census blocks in 25 states and Puerto Rico. Terastream' s submission was one of the provisionally selected bidders under category one, or entities seeking support to build networks capable of delivering 100 Mbps downstream and 25 Mbps upstream. Its provisionally selected bid is comprised of 149 census blocks in New Mexico. I look forward to working with you as we continue the work of reforming and modernizing the USF 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 Michelle Lujan Grisham I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Martin Heinrich United States Senate 702 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Heinrich: January 29, 2015 Thank you for your letter supporting the rural broadband experiments application submitted by The High Plains Regional Education Cooperative and Terastream Broadband (Terastream). Your views are very important and will be included in the record of the proceeding. In January oflast year, the Commission initiated an experiment to inform our policies to build the next generation networks in rural America and invited proposals on whether there is interest in constructing high-bandwidth networks in high-cost areas. This experiment has allowed us to explore how to structure the CAF Phase II competitive bidding process in price-cap areas and gather valuable information about deploying next-generation networks in high-cost areas. We issued an invitation, and the response was astounding. We received nearly 1,000 expressions of interest from all parts of the country and from a wide range of entities, including rural telephone companies, rural electric co-ops, cable and wireless service providers, schools and libraries, research and education networks, and communities. In July 2014, we adopted a $100 million budget for the rural broadband experiments and established an objective methodology for selecting projects among formal applications, which were due between October 23 and November 7, 2014. In total, 181 applicants proposed to serve over 76,000 census blocks in all 50 states and Puerto Rico . On December 5, 2014, we announced the provisionally selected bidders. The provisionally selected bidders bid on support to cover 26,867 census blocks in 25 states and Puerto Rico. Terastream 's submission was one of the provisionally selected bidders under category one, or entities seeking support to build networks capable of delivering 100 Mbps downstream and 25 Mbps upstream. Its provisionally selected bid is comprised of 149 census blocks in New Mexico. I look forward to working with you as we continue the work of reforming and modernizing the USF 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 Martin Heinrich I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance. Sincerely, FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON O FFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Ben Ray Lujan U.S. House of Representatives 2446 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman Lujan: January 29, 2015 Thank you for your letter supp01iing the rural broadband experiments application submitted by The High Plains Regional Education Cooperative and Terastream Broadband (Terastream). Your views are very important and will be included in the record of the proceeding. In January oflast year, the Commission initiated an experiment to inform our policies to build the next generation networks in rural America and invited proposals on whether there is interest in constructing high-bandwidth networks in high-cost areas. This experiment has allowed us to explore how to structure the CAF Phase II competitive bidding process in price-cap areas and gather valuable information about deploying next-generation networks in high-cost areas . We issued an invitation, and the response was astounding. We received nearly 1,000 expressions of interest from all parts of the country and from a wide range of entities, including rural telephone companies, rural electric co-ops, cable and wireless service providers, schools and libraries, research and education networks, and communities. In July 2014, we adopted a $100 million budget for the rural broadband experiments and established an objective methodology for selecting projects among formal applications, which were due between October 23 and November 7, 2014. In total, 181 applicants proposed to serve over 76,000 census blocks in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. On December 5, 2014, we announced the provisionally selected bidders. The provisionally selected bidders bid on support to cover 26,867 census blocks in 25 states and Puerto Rico. Terastream' s submission was one of the provisionally selected bidders under category one, or entities seeking support to build networks capable of delivering 100 Mbps downstream and 25 Mbps upstream. Its provisionally selected bid is comprised of 149 census blocks in New Mexico. I look forward to working with you as we continue the work of reforming and modernizing the USF 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 Ben Ray Lujan I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know if I can be of any fmiher assistance. Smcerel#tf- e hee!er FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFIC E OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Steve Pearce U.S . House of Representatives 2432 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman Pearce: January 29, 2015 Thank you for your letter supporting the rural broadband experiments application submitted by The High Plains Regional Education Cooperative and Terastream Broadband (Terastream). Your views are very important and will be included in the record of the proceeding. In January oflast year, the Commission initiated an experiment to inform our policies to build the next generation networks in rural America and invited proposals on whether there is interest in constructing high-bandwidth networks in high-cost areas. This experiment has allowed us to explore how to structure the CAF Phase II competitive bidding process in price-cap areas and gather valuable information about deploying next-generation networks in high-cost areas. We issued an invitation, and the response was astounding. We received nearly 1,000 expressions of interest from all parts of the country and from a wide range of entities, including rural telephone companies, rural electric co-ops, cable and wireless service providers, schools and libraries, research and education networks, and communities. In July 2014, we adopted a $100 million budget for the rural broadband experiments and established an objective methodology for selecting projects among formal applications, which were due between October 23 and November 7, 2014. In total, 181 applicants proposed to serve over 76,000 census blocks in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. On December 5, 2014, we announced the provisionally selected bidders. The provisionally selected bidders bid on supp011 to cover 26,867 census blocks in 25 states and Pue11o Rico. Terastream's submission was one of the provisionally selected bidders under category one, or entities seeking support to build networks capable of delivering 100 Mbps downstream and 25 Mbps upstream. Its provisionally selected bid is comprised of 149 census blocks in New Mexico . I look forward to working with you as we continue the work of reforming and modernizing the USF 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 Steve Pearce I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance. Sincerel y,~~(/__ (/ki, FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Tom Udall United States Senate 110 Hati Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Udall: January 29, 2015 Thank you for your letter supporting the rural broadband experiments application submitted by The High Plains Regional Education Cooperative and Terastream Broadband (Terastream). Your views m·e very important and will be included in the record of the proceeding. In January oflast year, the Commission initiated an experiment to inform our policies to build the next generation networks in rural America and invited proposals on whether there is interest in constructing high-bandwidth networks in high-cost areas. This experiment has allowed us to explore how to structure the CAF Phase II competitive bidding process in price-cap areas and gather valuable information about deploying next-generation networks in high-cost areas. We issued an invitation, and the response was astounding. We received nearly 1,000 expressions of interest from all parts of the country and from a wide range of entities, including rural telephone companies, rural electric co-ops, cable and wireless service providers, schools and libraries, research and education networks, and communities. In July 20 14, we adopted a $1 00 million budget for the rural broadband experiments and established an objective methodology for selecting projects among formal applications, which were due between October 23 and November 7, 2014. In total, 181 applicants proposed to serve over 76,000 census blocks in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. On December 5, 2014, we atmounced the provisionally selected bidders. The provisionally selected bidders bid on support to cover 26,867 census blocks in 25 states and Puerto Rico. Terastream's submission was one of the provisionally selected bidders under category one, or entities seeking support to build networks capable of delivering 100 Mbps downstream and 25 Mbps upstream. Its provisionally selected bid is comprised of 149 census blocks in New Mexico . I look forward to working with you as we continue the work of reforming and modernizing the USF 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 Tom Udall I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance. Sincerely, ~ Joheeler