Senate’s internet access plan rests on better broadband maps

The Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure bill makes a $42.5 billion bet that the government will overcome an obstacle that has long plagued efforts to connect most Americans to the internet: notoriously inaccurate maps showing where they can get a signal – and where they can’t. That’s the amount of grant funding that the legislation would provide to states to fund broadband projects in areas currently considered unserved or underserved. To qualify, proposals would have to comply with new broadband maps drawn by the Federal Communications Commission. There's one catch: the new maps don’t exist yet. And they may not be ready to go for one or two years, experts say. Though the consensus is that the new maps will be an improvement over the status quo, states and private-sector companies are moving forward with their own solutions.