FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN January 30, 2020 The Honorable Antonio Delgado U.S. House of Representatives 1007 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Congressman Delgado: Thank you for your follow-up letter regarding the eligibility of areas in New York for Phase I of the proposed Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the two points that you raise. With respect to your first point, I agree that the determination of areas in New York eligible for Phase I of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund should be made in a similar manner to the determination of eligible areas in other states. We are therefore removing overly broad language pertaining to New York from the draft report and order, and the areas in New York eligible for Phase I of the program will be determined by the same neutral principles applicable to other states. With respect to your second point, we will apply neutral criteria to determine which areas in New York, if any, will be eligible for Phase I of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, and we would welcome any information that the State of New York would like to provide us that will be relevant to that inquiry. Our decision will be based on the facts, and at this point, the agency has not received sufficient information to determine which if any areas in New York will be eligible for Phase I of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund under our neutral criteria. Thank you for your interest in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. Please let me know if I may be of further assistance. Sincerely, V. Pal