New National Broadband Map Update v4, Data as of December 2023

The Federal Communications Commission recently released the 4th version of the National Broadband Map, with data as of December 2023. At a high level, the trend continues of fewer and fewer unserved and underserved locations: in the previous version, 10.1 million locations were unserved or unserved. Now, with six months more data, we’re down to 8.8 million locations needing better broadband service. That’s an 11% decrease over one six-month period. Here’s another way to think about it: when NTIA made the formal allocation, there were 11.9 million unserved locations. That was $3,341 per location. On the basis of less eligible locations alone, since the available funding stays the same, now there’s $4,645 per location — a 39% increase. And that’s not counting the 3.5 million+ locations that will be served by the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) or Enhanced Alternative Connect America Model (ACAM) and not even eligible for this funding. Nevada went from 53,508 underserved and unserved to 28,842 locations. North Dakota also lost 40% of its unserved, and there are many states that lost 15% or more of their unserved.