COMMITTEE ON 2432 RAYBURN House OFFICE BUILDING FINANCIAL SERVICES UNITED STATES WASHINGTON, DC 20515 SUBCOMMITTEES: OFFICE NUMBERS VICE CHAlAMAN, FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ANO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (575) 522-0771 New MEXICO CONSUMER CREDIT (202) 225-2365 WASHI NGTON, 0.C. HOUSING AND INSURANCE 323 MONETARY Poucv AND TRADE PEARCE.HOUSE.GOV FACEBOOK.COM/RE PSTEVEPEARCE CONGRESSIONAL WESTERN CAUCUS @ RE PSTEVE PEARCE CHAIRMAN EMERITUS CONGRESSIONAL PRAYER CAUCUS Received & Inspected STEVAN PEARCE Second District, New Mexico MAY 0 1 2018 April 27, 2018 FCC Mai/room The Honorable Ajit Pai Chairman Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street SW Washington, D.C., 20554 Dear Chairman Pai: I am writing today to express my disappointment that Mescalero Apache Telecom, Inc. (MATI) was not included in the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) operating expensive relief order (Order) that addresses the high cost of providing broadband on Tribal lands. After over a year of the FCC sitting on the Order that would give a few companies serving Tribal communities relief because of the high cost associated with providing broadband in rural, high cost areas, an additional eligibility requirement was added to the Order that only excludes MATI. The new eligibility requirement excludes MATI by requiring carriers to deploy 10/1 Mbps broadband to 90 percent of the eligible locations. This stipulation punishes MATI for building out its network to serve as many people as possible; something that policy makers and the FCC have encouraged for years. By disqualifying MATI from operating expense relief, the FCC is giving less incentivizes for tribes to build out their networks to as many members of their communities as possible. Additionally, MATI is located on the side of a mountain where building out their network to this extent has greatly increased their operating expenses; not reduced them. No matter how much network a Tribal carrier has built, they still, on average, have higher operational costs. For these reasons, I ask that the FCC reconsider this requirement that is keeping MATI from obtaining the much-needed operating expense relief it needs. Sincerely, ~Steve Pearce Congressman CC: Commissioner Michael O'Rielly 570 N TELSHOR BLVD 1717 W 2ND ST, STE 110 200 E BROADWAY, STE 200 1101 New YORK AVE, RM 11 5 3445 LAMBROS LOOP NE 111 SCHOOL OF MINES Ro LAS CRUCES, NM 88011 ROSWELL, NM 88202 HOBBS, NM 88240 ALAMOGORDO, NM 88310 Los LUNAS, NM 87031 SOCORRO, NM 87801