A First Look at the Evolving National Broadband Map

Maps of broadband availability are critical inputs for targeting public programs aiming to address disparities in digital equity, such as the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. In 2020, the Broadband DATA Act called on the Federal Communications Commission to create new, more granular, maps of broadband availability in the US. Although the new National Broadband Map (NBM), released in November 2022, still relies on self-reported data from internet service providers (ISPs), a key feature of these new broadband maps is that they are constantly evolving. Congress directed the FCC to develop a challenge process by which state, local, and tribal governments, along with members of the public, could contest ISPs’ claimed service availability. In addition to the two major updates per year when ISPs report the locations they currently serve, the National Broadband Map changes every few weeks due to a number of factors. Our question is: how has the map been evolving so far?

[Shaddi Hasan is an assistant professor of computer science at Virginia Tech.]