FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Ben Ray Lujan U.S. House ofRepresentatives 2446 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman Lujan: July 27, 2015 Thank you for your letter urging the Commission to reform our Universal Service Fund ("USF") mechanisms to support broadband deployment in New Mexico and more broadly rural America. 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 2 JS1 century economy. I share your goal of ensuring that the universal service program better reflects today ' s marketplace and technology in areas served by rate-of-return carriers. As I explained at the Senate Commerce Committee's FCC Oversight Hearing earlier this year, resolving this issue will require all the stakeholders to work together and make hard decisions to reach consensus on the best path forward. Everybody agrees that the goal of any changes should be supporting broadband in rural areas. With that in mind, I directed my staff and staff members from the Commission's Wireline Bureau to meet with stakeholders in the rate-of-return community. We have encouraged all stakeholders in the rate-of-return community to work together to develop an approach that both has the widespread support of the rate-of­ return community and meets the principles unanimously outlined by the Commission in our April 2014 Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. I share your concern for New Mexicans living in rural communities without access to broadband. I also recognize the substantial time, effort, and resources that have been invested in this effort to date by stakeholders in the rate-of-return community. I am committed to finding a path forward by the end of the year, but it is important to have a solution- or set of solutions ­ that creates the right incentives to deploy modern networks throughout rural America, meets the Commission's overarching policy objectives, and has the widespread support of the rate-of­ return carrier community. To that end, it is encouraging that the stakeholders appear to have come to a consensus on the notion of a "two-path" approach to reforming the program that is comprised of both a model­ based path and updates to the existing mechanisms, but work remains with respect to the details of how we would update those existing support mechanisms. We will continue to engage with stakeholders, and we expect them to continue to engage with us, to ensure that any reform of these universal service programs successfully delivers on our shared goal of more robust broadband throughout rural America. Page 2-The Honorable Ben Ray Lujan I look forward to working with you to make continued progress on the deployment of broadband to consumers throughout rural areas a reality. Sincerely, Tom Wheeler FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Steve Pearce U.S. House of Representatives 2432 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman Pearce: July 27,2015 Thank you for your letter urging the Commission to reform our Universal Service Fund ("USF") mechanisms to support broadband deployment in New Mexico and more broadly rural America. 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 21 st century economy. I share your goal of ensuring that the universal service program better reflects today' s marketplace and technology in areas served by rate-of-return carriers. As I explained at the Senate Commerce Committee ' s FCC Oversight Hearing earlier this year, resolving this issue will require all the stakeholders to work together and make hard decisions to reach consensus on the best path forward . Everybody agrees that the goal of any changes should be supporting broadband in rural areas. With that in mind, I directed my staff and staff members from the Commission's Wireline Bureau to meet with stakeholders in the rate-of-return community. We have encouraged all stakeholders in the rate-of-return community to work together to develop an approach that both has the widespread support of the rate-of­ return community and meets the principles unanimously outlined by the Commission in our April2014 Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. I share your concern for New Mexicans living in rural communities without access to broadband. I also recognize the substantial time, effort, and resources that have been invested in this effort to date by stakeholders in the rate-of-return community. I am committed to finding a path forward by the end of the year, but it is important to have a solution - or set of solutions - that creates the right incentives to deploy modern networks throughout rural America, meets the Commission's overarching policy objectives, and has the widespread support of the rate-of­ return carrier community. To that end, it is encouraging that the stakeholders appear to have come to a consensus on the notion of a "two-path" approach to reforming the program that is comprised of both a model­ based path and updates to the existing mechanisms, but work remains with respect to the details of how we would update those existing support mechanisms. We will continue to engage with stakeholders, and we expect them to continue to engage with us, to ensure that any reform of these universal service programs successfully delivers on our shared goal of more robust broadband throughout rural America. Page 2-The Honorable Steve Pearce I look forward to working with you to make continued progress on the deployment of broadband to consumers throughout rural areas a reality. Sincerely, Tom Wheeler FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN The Honorable Tom Udall United States Senate 110 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senator Udall : July 27, 2015 Thank you for your letter urging the Commission to reform our Universal Service Fund ("USF") mechanisms to support broadband deployment in New Mexico and more broadly rural America. 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 2P1 century economy. I share your goal of ensuring that the universal service program better reflects today's marketplace and technology in areas served by rate-of-return carriers. As I explained at the Senate Commerce Committee's FCC Oversight Hearing earlier this year, resolving this issue will require all the stakeholders to work together and make hard decisions to reach consensus on the best path forward . Everybody agrees that the goal of any changes should be supporting broadband in rural areas. With that in mind, I directed my staff and staff members from the Commission ' s Wireline Bureau to meet with stakeholders in the rate-of-return community. We have encouraged all stakeholders in the rate-of-return community to work together to develop an approach that both has the widespread support of the rate-of­ return community and meets the principles unanimously outlined by the Commission in our April 2014 Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. I share your concern for New Mexicans living in rural communities without access to broadband. I also recognize the substantial time, effort, and resources that have been invested in this effort to date by stakeholders in the rate-of-return community. I am committed to finding a path forward by the end of the year, but it is important to have a solution - or set of solutions ­ that creates the right incentives to deploy modem networks throughout rural America, meets the Commission' s overarching policy objectives, and has the widespread support of the rate-of­ return carrier community. To that end, it is encouraging that the stakeholders appear to have come to a consensus on the notion of a "two-path" approach to reforming the program that is comprised of both a model­ based path and updates to the existing mechanisms, but work remains with respect to the detail s of how we would update those existing support mechanisms. We will continue to engage with stakeholders, and we expect them to continue to engage with us, to ensure that any reform of these universal service programs successfully delivers on our shared goal of more robust broadband throughout rural America. Page 2-The Honorable Tom Udall I look forward to working with you to make continued progress on the deployment of broadband to consumers throughout rural areas a reality. Sincerely, Tom Wheeler 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: July 27, 2015 Thank you for your letter urging the Commission to reform our Universal Service Fund ("USF") mechanisms to support broadband deployment in New Mexico and more broadly rural America. 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 21 st century economy. I share your goal of ensuring that the universal service program better reflects today's marketplace and technology in areas served by rate-of-return carriers. As I explained at the Senate Commerce Committee ' s FCC Oversight Hearing earlier this year, resolving this issue will require all the stakeholders to work together and make hard decisions to reach consensus on the best path forward. Everybody agrees that the goal of any changes should be supporting broadband in rural areas. With that in mind, I directed my staff and staff members from the Commission' s Wireline Bureau to meet with stakeholders in the rate-of-return community. We have encouraged all stakeholders in the rate-of-return community to work together to develop an approach that both has the widespread support of the rate-of­ return community and meets the principles unanimously outlined by the Commission in our April 2014 Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. I share your concern for New Mexicans living in rural communities without access to broadband. I also recognize the substantial time, effort, and resources that have been invested in this effort to date by stakeholders in the rate-of-return community. I am committed to finding a path forward by the end of the year, but it is important to have a solution- or set of solutions ­ that creates the right incentives to deploy modem networks throughout rural America, meets the Commission's overarching policy objectives, and has the widespread support ofthe rate-of­ return carrier community. To that end, it is encouraging that the stakeholders appear to have come to a consensus on the notion of a "two-path" approach to reforming the program that is comprised of both a model­ based path and updates to the existing mechanisms, but work remains with respect to the details of how we would update those existing support mechanisms. We will continue to engage with stakeholders, and we expect them to continue to engage with us, to ensure that any reform of these universal service programs successfully delivers on our shared goal of more robust broadband throughout rural America. Page 2-The Honorable Martin Heinrich I look forward to working with you to make continued progress on the deployment of broadband to consumers throughout rural areas a reality. Sincerely, Tom Wheeler 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: July 27, 2015 Thank you for your letter urging the Commission to reform our Universal Service Fund ("USF") mechanisms to support broadband deployment in New Mexico and more broadly rural America. 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 21st century economy. I share your goal of ensuring that the universal service program better reflects today's marketplace and technology in areas served by rate-of-return carriers. As I explained at the Senate Commerce Committee' s FCC Oversight Hearing earlier this year, resolving this issue will require all the stakeholders to work together and make hard decisions to reach consensus on the best path forward. Everybody agrees that the goal of any changes should be supporting broadband in rural areas. With that in mind, I directed my staff and staff members from the Commission's Wireline Bureau to meet with stakeholders in the rate-of-return community. We have encouraged all stakeholders in the rate-of-return community to work together to develop an approach that both has the widespread support of the rate-of­ return community and meets the principles unanimously outlined by the Commission in our April 2014 Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. I share your concern for New Mexicans living in rural communities without access to broadband. I also recognize the substantial time, effort, and resources that have been invested in this effort to date by stakeholders in the rate-of-return community. I am committed to finding a path forward by the end of the year, but it is important to have a solution - or set of solutions­ that creates the right incentives to deploy modern networks throughout rural America, meets the Commission's overarching policy objectives, and has the widespread support of the rate-of­ return carrier community. To that end, it is encouraging that the stakeholders appear to have come to a consensus on the notion of a "two-path" approach to reforming the program that is comprised of both a model­ based path and updates to the existing mechanisms, but work remains with respect to the details of how we would update those existing support mechanisms. We will continue to engage with stakeholders, and we expect them to continue to engage with us, to ensure that any reform of these universal service programs successfully delivers on our shared goal of more robust broadband throughout rural America. Page 2-The Honorable Michelle Lujan Grisham I look forward to working with you to make continued progress on the deployment of broadband to consumers throughout rural areas a reality. Sincerely, Tom Wheeler