FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 
WASHINGTON 
OFF ICE OF 
TH E CHAIRMAN 
The Honorable Heidi Heitkamp 
United States Senate 
110 Hart Senate Office Building 
Washington, D.C. 20510 
Dear Senator Heitkamp: 
March 7, 2017 
Thank you for your letter supporting the appointment of Mr. Pat Mastel, Associate 
General Counsel of Midcontinent Communications, to serve on the Commission1s Broadband 
Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC). We will certainly consider your recommendation 
and Mr. Mastel's impressive resume as the Commission reviews the nominations for the BDAC. 
Last September, I proposed what I called a Digital Empowerment Agenda-a blueprint 
of policies that would accelerate the deployment ofhigh-speed Internet access, or broadband, in 
communities across the country, including rural America. The BDAC is intended to provide an 
effective means for stakeholders to exchange ideas and develop recommendations to the 
Commission on broadband deployment. Its mission will be to identify regulatory barriers to 
infrastructure investment and to make recommendations on reducing and/or removing them, 
which will in turn enhance the Commission's ability to carry out its statutory responsibility to 
encourage broadband deployment to all Americans. 
I appreciate your taking the time to communicate your recommendations to me. Please 
let me know if I can be of any further assistance.