Congressional Republicans Urge FCC to Quickly Produce Accurate Broadband Maps

In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, the minority leadership from the House and Senate Commerce Committees asked about the FCC's status on completing its mapping process to ensure accurate broadband data collection. [Congress just allocated the funds the FCC needs to do the mapping in December 2020.] "[W]e are concerned that delays in completing these maps could lead to further delays in distributing critical broadband funds," the Members of Congress write. "You have repeatedly stated that the FCC could quickly produce new broadband maps. On March 10, 2020, you testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) that the FCC could “radically improve” its broadband maps “within three-to-six months.” You repeated that statement the next day, testifying before the House Appropriations Committee’s FSGG Subcommittee that the agency could fix its maps in “just a few months.” You can imagine our surprise and disappointment when the FCC recently suggested the new maps would not be ready until 2022." The Members asked FCC staff for a quarterly briefing on implementation of the new maps. In addition, they asked for the following information no later than March 22, 2021: 

1. Detailed information on why your estimated timeline for completing new maps has changed from three-to-six months to at least one year.
2. A detailed timeline for the development of new maps.
3. Any steps you plan to take to expedite the timeline for completing new maps.
4. Detailed information on whether the contracting process required by statute will affect the timeline for completing the first new map. Please also provide the anticipated dates for completing the contracting process and development of the IT platforms for the collected data.
5. A detailed breakdown of how the FCC plans to spend the $98 million Congress provided for the development of new maps.     
6. Detailed information on whether the revised timeline will delay planned subsidy disbursements, including the 5G Fund and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase II Auction.    
7. A detailed plan for how the Commission plans to incorporate its biannual data collections in a timely manner to ensure broadband maps remain up-to-date over time.
8. Detailed information on how the FCC, as required by law, is coordinating with the NTIA and using NTIA’s National Broadband Availability Map to inform the Commission’s broadband mapping efforts. Please include information on the FCC’s actions to coordinate with NTIA on their Broadband Infrastructure Program, and the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program.