STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI
ON THE STATUS OF UNIVERSAL SERVICE REFORM IMPLEMENTATION
November 14, 2013
I would like to thank the staff of the Wireline Competition Bureau, the Wireless 
Telecommunications Bureau, and the Office of Native Affairs and Policy for all of their hard work 
implementing the historic Universal Service Transformation Order.  That work has been plentiful.  By 
my count, the Transformation Order delegated decision-making authority over universal service issues to 
the Bureaus 22 separate times.  You’ve met the challenge by being prolific over the past two years—no 
small feat given the complexity of these issues.
But it’s not just quantity. I’ve also been impressed by the quality of your efforts implementing 
Phase II of the Connect America Fund.  The high caliber of your work is much appreciated, and I am glad 
the Commission recognizes it today.
Turning to reforms impacting rate-of-return carriers, I remain concerned about the impact of the 
quantile regression analysis (QRA) benchmarks on broadband deployment.  I am pleased both that the 
Bureau has suspended the benchmarks for Alaskan carriers and that the Commission has made some 
improvements to those benchmarks for other carriers over the course of the past year.  But I continue to 
believe that the QRA benchmarks are chilling the build-out of next-generation networks in rural America.  
I hope that under Chairman Wheeler’s leadership, the Commission will take a fresh look at this problem 
and adopt additional reforms to provide rural carriers with predicable universal service support in a 
fiscally responsible manner.