FCC’s Pai Announces His Plan to Support Broadband Deployment in Rural America

Those living in rural America need high-speed broadband in order to compete in the digital economy. Today, I'm announcing my plan to help deliver the online opportunities they deserve. I am putting on the table a concrete and specific plan for giving rate-of-return carriers a chance to participate in the Connect America Fund if they want to do so.

First, I have concluded after careful study that targeted changes to existing universal service rules can solve the stand-alone broadband problem. Second, I believe that we need to open a path so that rate-of-return carriers that want to participate in the Connect America Fund can do so before the end of 2015. To be sure, taking these steps will not complete our work on the Universal Service Fund. But we should not let division on other high-cost reforms delay the adoption of a commonsense, broadly appealing solution to a specific problem. Let's get rural America connected once and for all.