FCC shouldn't delay broadband upgrades for better data, industry tells lawmakers

Efforts from the Federal Communications Commission to expand both fixed-wireless and mobile broadband across rural America will require more granular data to reach their full potential, but deployment efforts shouldn’t be delayed any longer, according to industry stakeholders and legislators testifying at a Senate hearing. The FCC has acknowledged that its data-collection processes are fundamentally flawed as carriers have overstated coverage in their self-reported map data. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced earlier that a new, more granular “Digital Opportunity Data Collection” process will eventually replace its outdated methodology, but commissioners disagree on how long that will take to implement. Chairman Pai said in March that he didn’t know how long it would take the FCC to improve its maps, while fellow FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel estimated it would take three to six months.

Steven Berry, chief executive of the Competitive Carriers Association, said choosing between accurate maps and expediting infrastructure funds is a “false choice” that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai laid out when he testified at a hearing in March that the FCC wouldn’t be able to improve its coverage maps in a matter of months. “We can walk and chew chewing gum at the same time,” Berry said. “I think we can identify where the holes are by gathering the data. It’s a matter of months to get the data, not years.”