reach this moment and i wish to commend you for the result. you planning conducted workshops, reviewed records, this into numerous interested parties in this proceeding, balanced or concerns, crafted the order and accompanied further notice and yes, put up our office. but please know how much we appreciate all of you. i wish i could say right now that we were at the finish line, but this indeed is a marathon. and for those of you who will compete in sunday's race, sadly it will not be me, you have been preparing for months for this milestone that we've reached today. but we are at mile 20. just a little further to go. i for one look forward to continued engagement on the limitation of these reforms. i also want to join congratulating the chairman and my fellow commissioners on today's though. the task before us has not been an easy one, but it is certainly one for which i am proud this mission -- commission has finally achieved. commissioner copps and commissioner mcdowell, i know you have both witnessed past attempts at usf and icc reforms and you must be deeply proud today. thank you for diligence and hard work. once again, mr. chairman, i want to express my gratitude for your leadership, engagement and willingness to listen and address my concern and for your honest attempt at reaching consensus. lastly, i would like for you to give me the privilege of acknowledging the hard work of my wire line of cars they are come in cheap on a bird paid her tireless commitment to priorities and willing mix to make incredible personal sacrifices served me and her team well. you were able to capture and defend those principles that i hold dear in numerous meetings and exchanges than i wish she's fairly thing you cannot commissioner copps, a marker of a car seat, sharon carroll, victoria, rebecca, in fact. i couldn't say all of them. even though we know who's working, right? and for all of those captured in the slides for your commitment to reform and for your willingness to serve this nation. thank you so much, mr. chairman. this is an incredible day for all of us. >> well, thank you very much, commissioner clyburn. today is indeed a momentous step in our efforts to harness the benefits of broadband for every american. i am tremendously grateful to each of my colleagues on the commission for working hard, working together to get this done. the work of the staff has been just incredible and i will have more to say about those than there appears as well. but this is a once in a generation overhaul of universal service, keeping faith with our nation's long commitment to connecting all americans to communication services. we are taking a system designed for the alexander graham bell area of rotary telephones and modernizing it through the air as steve jobs and the internet future he imagined. we are reaffirming for the digital age the fundamental american promise of opportunity for all. we are furthering our national goal of connecting the country to wired and wireless broadband and helping put america on its proper 21st century fighting, positioning us to leave the world and a fiercely competitive global, digital economy. infrastructure has always been a key pillar of american economic success. connecting consumers and businesses, facilitating commerce and unleashing innovation. broadband internet is the indispensable infrastructure for 21st century economy. recognizing this fact for years respect the voices have called universal broadband and essential ingredient for american economic competitiveness and job creation. as 2007 report rising above the gathering storm, the national academy of sciences said that accelerating progress towards making broadband conductivity available and affordable for all is critical and they urge government to take the necessary steps to meet that goal. in 2010, international broadband plan be correctly called extending wired and wireless broadband to all americans the great infrastructure challenge of the 21st century. last year ibm ceo sam palmisano expressed a view we have heard from other ceos from governors, mayors and from the embers across the country, the employer policymakers to fix the bridges, but don't forget broadband. and he said that a pervasive broad and infrastructure would be a powerful generator of new jobs and economic growth. today building on years of hard work by the sec and on capitol hill and stakeholders outside the agency, this commission is acting unanimously on a bipartisan basis to meet this critical national challenge and bring the universal service fund and intercarrier convent patient into the broad and age. our action will enable millions of americans to work, learn and innovate online. it will open new vistas of digital opportunity and enhance public safety. it will create jobs in the near term and lay the foundation for enduring job creation and economic growth in u.s. global competitiveness for years to come. today's reforms that will be intercarrier compensation will bring real benefits to can them or send communities in every part of the country. over the next year, the connect america fund will bring broadband to more than 600,000 americans who wouldn't have otherwise. and the fighters after that, millions more rural families will be connected and today's order process on the path to get broadband to every american by the end of the decade, to close the broad and deployment cap, which now stands at close to 20 million americans. we are also extending the benefits of mobile broad and coverage to tens of thousands of unserved road miles, those areas where millions of americans work, live and travel, but better areas of frustration and economic stagnation for so many people today. for mobile connections are needed, but unavailable. for small businesses lose out on customers in productivity, were people in traffic accidents or other disasters can't reach 9-1-1. today we make mobility and independent, universal service objectives for the first time, providing dedicated support to the world's first-ever mobility fund. over the next three years, we will provide almost a billion dollars per year in funding for universal mobility. global is one of the fastest-growing and most promising sectors of our economy and having the world's largest market for three g in 4g subscribers will be a key competitive advantage enabling us to lead the world in innovation. new wired and wireless broadband will be a life line for rural communities currently being bypassed by the opportunities of the internet revolution. as a result of what we are doing today, young people who didn't see a future in their small home town would now be able to access a new world of opportunity. entrepreneurs and small towns won't need to move to the big city to live their dreams. instead, small business owners doing everything from selling beef to hunting lodges, like a president tonight in liberty, nebraska wanted to do. they will build to reach customers in the next town, to become a or country and boost their markets, efficiency, productivity through services. today's action will empower small businesses that otherwise couldn't exist in small-town america and create jobs and communities. that includes farmers who need rides and to access commodity price information, we'll time weather reports. turner process we heard this from farmers in rural america. today's action will help connect inc. or institution, which can play a vital role in expanding basic digital literacy training so needed in a world where broad skills are necessary both to find jobs and land jobs. today's action has the potential to be one of the biggest job creators in rural america in decades. we estimate theater as a whole will unleash billions of dollars in private sector broadband infrastructure spending in rural america over the next day, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. by empowering millions of more americans to engage in e-commerce, buyers and sellers, the order will grow the size of our overall online marketplace and provide a boost for main street business is all over the country, including areas. today's action will change the landscape for students now served by broadband, providing educational opportunity that would otherwise be denied and elements or paris will change the landscape for seniors and people with illnesses providing remote diagnostics to people with no accessory travel hundreds of miles. it will enable parents and now underserved areas to finally connect with children in military service overseas to video chat or other modern communications means that require broadband. each of these are examples of people we met in our proceeding over the last few months who talked about real needs they have today. by constraining the growth of the fund, today's reforms will also minimize the burden these programs placed on all consumers, keeping hundreds of millions of dollars in consumer's pockets over the next several years. our overall intercarrier compensation system will gradually eliminate the billions of dollars in hidden subsidies currently paid by consumers across the country through their wireless and long-distance phone bills. our staff estimates the consumer benefits of ict reform will be more than $2 billion annually. consumers will get more value for their money and less waste. this material benefits flow directly from the policy principles of structural reforms would embrace in this order. the reforms implement the idea that government program should be modernized to focus on strategic challenges that today and tomorrow, not yesterday. starting today, usf will be transformed into connect america fund, which will directly take our country's 21st century infrastructure challenge by enabling the are to build robust, scalable, affordable broadband to homes, businesses and make her institutions and unserved communities. icc reforms will advance the deployment of modern internet protocol networks and of the telephone network transitions to an ip network, firms in expectation of carriers negotiate in good faith for ip to ip interconnection for voice traffic. today's order recognizes as i mentioned the growing importance of mobile broadband. for the first time, we make mobility and independent universal service object is to take significant concrete steps to meet that goal. also, today's order brings market-based competitive bidding and to universal service support. in a series of waves, including options, restructure distribution of public funds to ensure real efficiency and accountability in both connect america fund and the mobility fund. for the first time, our order puts the fun on a firm budget. fiscal responsibility was a principle we announced on day one and a huge vat of this order, protecting the interest of millions of consumers who contributed to the fund every month. we put in place a series of reforms to eliminate duplicate it and other funding where it's not needed and can't be justified. we also had arbitrage schemes to take advantage of gaps, closing loopholes in our rules. faced with many complex and nuanced policy questions, i believe this commission, all of us together have reached the right solutions because we approach the issues the right way. we didn't rubberstamp or adopt wholesale proposals of any stakeholder, but we welcome all proposal, all constructive engagement. instead, we made decisions on what's right for american people in our economy, based on facts and data gathered at one of the most extensive records in sec history, including hearing and workshops all across the country. more than 2700 totaling more than 26,000 pages, all of which were reviewed carefully by this incredible team. we are focused on putting consumers first, calibrating policies we adopt to maximize consumer benefit. we've been careful sure that affect the companies face predictable and measured transition paths so that they can keep investing in their networks to better serve consumers and support our economy. we have brought increased clarity to areas of uncertainty, created by tensions between new communication services like voip, voice over internet protocol and our old rules. getting to this point wasn't easy. they required us all to make tough choices about what the connect america fund and consumers could not support. it started at a high level. some proposals would require consumers to pay a greater share of the cost of reform or would've increased the size of the fun. that would've put too much burden on consumers during these difficult economic times. some but we should dramatically reduce the size of the fund. that would've left behind millions of americans being bypassed by broadband with no prospect of broadband comic dignity, denying opportunity and economic access to those communities. some would've had us operate as if we were writing a link say, but of course we are not in that would've raised the most disruption, buildout delays another unintended undesirable consequences. getting to this point not only requires tough choices, required engagement of many stakeholders around the country of partners in federal government, states, private sector, nonprofit community. i appreciate the broad level of constraint of engagement that made a difference in the result. that constructive engagement very much includes many members of congress on both sides of the aisle who have worked for years to reform and improve universal service and whose ongoing and constructive input is reflected in our action today. there are too many to thank individually in congress, but i am grateful to all of the members of congress who provided input and guidance. the president has been a consistent leader in broadband and the opportunity technology and our actions today help meet national goals of universal access to wired and wireless broadband. i want to thank our state partners who pioneered many reforms we adopt today. moving forward, i am pleased that the states will continue to play a vital role in ensuring consumers are well served by universal service program and in other ways. now, very importantly, i am deeply grateful to my fellow commissioners who have worked tremendously hard to make today possible. commissioner copps and powell have been fighting to fix these programs for years and commissioner cliburn's strong experience of the state level in south carolina has been invaluable in our effort from top to bottom, today's order reflects the seriousness of purpose and thoughtful input from each of my colleagues on the commission. it is a better order as a result and on behalf of the american people, i thank each of you. at a time when citizens want solutions, not gridlock, i am proud that commissioners approving bipartisan reform of a broken system that will deliver massive and if it to the american people. of course this would not have had without the tremendous work of the expert staff of this agency. without you, we would not be accomplishing today what has been elusive for many years, making reform a reality. our staff is all colleagues have knowledge that not only were tired, they have performed brilliantly. crunching numbers, mastering complex technologies, operating at a world-class policy level. today's order is the project of that tremendous at her. i am not the first person today to say this, but you work makes us proud, fulfills the vision of the expert at the fcc is an expert agency serving our country. there is so many people to think of the saucer that list. each of you sitting here, sharon gillett, ruth buchman, carol mattia, carol and i am ruthanne jim and others here have our first conversations by universal service reform 20 years ago. rebecca goodhart, jim schleicher inc., michael stassen, so many others. steve rosenberg, so many others in the wireline bureau, wireless bureau, general counsel's office over the commission. i want to acknowledge the work of the team that worked on a national broadband plan as many of the people here in people who are no longer with the commission for playing an important role in advancing the ball on these reforms in a suit at the café. the staff of each of the commissioners on the eighth floor deserve a tremendous amount of credit for mastering these incredibly complex topics for ensuring a serious collaborative effort. i mention the fact that so many people from the eighth floor staff amid euros for here late last night, but that might leave people the impression last night was the only white paper here late. the more important point is that off everyone can remember the last night when you all were here late working on this. and we appreciate that so much. and you have produced a result that you will be proud of for many, many years. i want to particularly salute and applaud my office. the quarterback of this effort, zach, you have ran this process in a way that makes us all proud that i think we have all seen how indispensable you are, bringing all this together simply would not have been possible without your work and also the work of all the people who work with you in the chairman's office to make this happen is once again the eighth floor and staff of the bureaus. your leadership, your persistence, your sanity, your calmness and strength under fire in the foxhole. we all honor that and appreciate it very much. the bad news to zach and our team and everyone else's that our work is not yet done. we have implementation work ahead and there'll continue to be intensive engagement with all stakeholders in response to the further notice who adopted a and in the months to come. we still of course is our colleagues have mentioned, face a tremendous challenge in increasing broadband adoption. and i'm doing barrier to opportunity in both rural and urban america. while there is no silver bullet for broadband adoption, the lifeline portion of uss can be part of solution including significant broadband pilot programs. i have asked the staff to gear up lifeline reform for action this year. those are not fake smiles on their -- faces. but wait there's more of my colleagues have noted there's work to do on the contribution side is another important to us that topic commission will address. i will leave with a posing thought. in the 1930s and the teen 50s, when president roosevelt and eisenhower directed federal funding to roads, tunnels, bridges and national highway system, they were investing in the then current technologies to connect our people and our communities. the same was true for electricity. the same is true for telephones or days. key 20th century universal service achievement. all of those investments have paid truman as dividends for our economy and our country. today, brad and internet truly is the information superhighway, the key connect to the infrastructure of the 21st century. it is what will drive our competitiveness, our economy and brought opportunity for decades to come. our action today is firmly rooted in the sound principles that have served our country well in the past and i am confident it will help deliver a bright future for all americans. with that, let us proceed to it though. all those in favor say aye. [inaudible] >> all the supposed they may. the ayes habit in their quest for editorial privileges is granted. and i am asked to make it reminder which under the rule of the sunshine. prohibition and expert date context remain in effect to the full text of her decision is released. undersecretary, please announce our next item. >> hi, chairman paul calla bna. on the issue of contributions, do you expect any slow downs given me here were heading into? >> i think you're asking when will do contributions reform. we haven't announced a schedule yet. we recognize that's an important part of the puzzle. as you can see, we've added teamwork and around-the-clock for the clock for quite some time and we have not set a schedule or agenda f