Wheeler Reassures Schumer, Gillibrand on CAF II Funding Process
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler sought to reassure the two senators representing New York about the Connect America Fund Phase II process, in July 21 letters the agency released Friday. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats, wrote separately about…
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the issue to Wheeler in May. Wheeler pointed to a Further NPRM in his reply, saying the agency seeks “further comment on a number of ways that the Commission can structure the CAF Phase II auction to ensure an equitable distribution of funds to states like New York, where the price cap carrier declined to accept significant amounts of universal support.” Schumer had noted that Verizon declined to accept the “more than $29 million annually” in CAF funds and called the idea of reallocating the money into a “national pot” unfair. “Congress did not intend to give the FCC the legal authority to reassign the allocated funds,” Schumer said in his May 11 letter. Wheeler said that in “my view, a decision by a price cap carrier to decline CAF Phase II funding support in no way diminishes our universal service obligations to provide support to connect the unserved communities in those states.”