FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler at NTCA Fall Conference

I want to dive into the things we need to be doing to make our universal service programs smarter and more effective -- and by we I mean both the Federal Communications Commission and the members of NTCA - The Rural Broadband Association. Let's start by looking at our Congressional mandates. Congress told us that universal service means access to "reasonably comparable service" at "reasonably comparable rates." We should unpack these two aspects of our mandate a little bit.

I'm circulating to my fellow Commissioners a public notice to remind everybody that this support should only be used for its intended purpose -- getting communications networks to rural America. We've seen examples in recent news of bad apples who abuse the fund for their own personal gain, and it is important that we take steps to ensure that those bad apples do not distract from the important work that you are doing to serve your communities.