FCC Denies Request to Rescind Comment on Unserved Areas

The Federal Communications Commission has dismissed a request by wireless Internet service providers that it rescind its notice seeking comment on a list of census blocks in price cap territories that are unserved by fixed broadband, a list based on the National Broadband Map.

The FCC said that the request from the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) was not "ripe" for a decision because the notice was not a final action, but instead a request for info that could inform that final action, which is the dispensation of more broadband subsidy money as the FCC migrates traditional phone subsidies to broadband. Cable operators want the opportunity to weigh in and correct what they see as inaccuracies in the map that show served areas to be unserved. Areas identified as unserved will be eligible for Universal Service Fund subsidies for competing broadband providers, including wireless, which cable ops don't want to be used to overbuild their existing wired service.