Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force Proposes to Release Mobility Fund-II Coverage

The Federal Communications Commission's Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force proposes to release certain mobile broadband coverage data submitted pursuant to the Mobility Fund Phase II Challenge Process Order. The Task Force commences this process to allow the agency to publicly release carrier-specific 4G LTE coverage maps derived from the MF-II coverage data, consistent with FCC rules and precedent. The MF-II Challenge Process Order required mobile broadband service providers to submit 4G LTE coverage data in a one-time data collection pursuant to specifications adopted for MF-II. The data specifications adopted for this one-time data collection were “the most granular and standardized that the Commission had ever adopted for assessing mobile wireless coverage,” requiring providers to report (among other things) the propagation modeling software, spectrum band or bands, bandwidth, clutter factor categories, and signal strength used to generate the coverage maps. The maps would show coverage aggregated across spectrum bands and would show only 4G LTE coverage as reported for the MF-II collection. The coverage data would neither show a provider’s complete and current mobile broadband coverage nor reveal information on the spectrum bands that comprise its coverage meeting the MF-II specifications. Parties that submitted MF-II coverage data have ten business days from the date of the release of this Public Notice to object to the release of their own data. The deadline for filing such objections is Feb 27, 2020.