FCC Chairman Wheeler's Response to Members of Congress Regarding Universal Service Policies in Rural and High Cost Areas

On Oct. 14, 2014 and Oct. 24, 2014 Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) and Sen Roy Blunt (R-MO), respectively, sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler urging the FCC to update the Mobility Fund within the Universal Service Fund to continue to fulfill the central tenets of the 1996 Telecommunications Act and ensure a 21st Century wireless infrastructure in rural communities.

On Nov. 13, 2014, Chairman Wheeler wrote back to each in separate letters, saying that the 2011USF/ICC Transformation Order updated the USF, including "specific performance goals to preserve and advance the universal availability of voice service and to ensure the universal availability of modern networks capable of providing advanced mobile voice and broadband services." Chairman Wheeler also wrote that, "A core component of the Commission's 2011 USF reforms was the creation of the Connect America Fund to preserve and advance voice and robust broadband services, both fixed and mobile, in high-cost areas of the nation that the marketplace would otherwise not serve." Chairman Wheeler wrote the FCC sent out a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to seek comments on, "how to target funding to areas in which service only exists today due to support from the Universal Service Fund. We also seek to extend service to areas that would not otherwise be covered by commercial 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) deployments."