FCC Chairman Wheeler Response to Senators Regarding Municipal Broadband

In a letter to eight Republican senators, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler tried to ease concerns about the FCC’s support for municipal broadband networks. The senators had asked him four questions:

1. Please provide the total dollar amount that the FCC has committed to municipal broadband providers through the Universal Service Fund's Rural Broadband Experiments program. Do any limitations exist to prevent government-owned networks from using universal service funds to compete with private sector networks?
2. Please clarify whether there is a situation in which the emergence of a new governmentowned network could result in the loss of universal service funding for an existing private sector provider.
3. Please detail any plans the FCC has to adopt additional policies relating to municipal broadband. For example, does the FCC intend to extend its February 2015 decision to additional states?
4. Please highlight the FCC's outreach plans for fiscal year 2016 with respect to government-owned networks. Please identify any state or local officials with whom the FCC plans to meet and why.

Chairman Wheeler replied saying the kinds of scenarios the senators fear aren't happening and the FCC hasn't authorized any municipal networks to receive that cash so far. He also disclosed that the agency has no more petitions pending that would prompt it to preempt state laws that limit muni broadband.\