STATEMENT OF 
ACTING CHAIRWOMAN MIGNON L. CLYBURN
Re: Connect America Fund, WC Docket No. 10-90.
Broadband is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.  It is the gateway through which most 
Americans obtain critical information and services, find jobs, communicate with their teachers and health 
care providers, and keep up to date with their family and friends.  The sad reality, however, is that 
millions of Americans still lack access to broadband networks, and for those living in areas where the 
business case will not likely be made for rapid deployment, government engagement is essential.  
Today’s Order, which leverages private investment and universal service funding, will potentially 
connect hundreds of thousands of unserved consumers to robust broadband networks. Providers electing 
to receive funding under the new rules for incremental support must include a one-for-one matching of 
private investment for each dollar of universal service support.  This public-private partnership stretches 
the impact of federal funding to reach more communities.  In addition, it provides a mechanism to make 
available additional universal service support if the demand exceeds $300 million, and commits to using 
any unclaimed funding to reach unserved communities through Connect America Phase II.  
We take significant steps to connect these unserved communities and consumers today, and in so 
doing are moving another step closer to fulfilling goals set forth in our historical overhaul of the high-cost 
Universal Service Fund: to ensure that all Americans have access to voice and broadband services.  
Comprehensive reforms made this Order possible, and I want to thank former Chairman Genachowski for 
his leadership on these issues.
None of this would be possible without the support of my fellow Commissioners, whose 
collaborative efforts to reach a unanimous decision and unleash funding, should help to close the digital 
divide for hundreds of thousands of Americans.