Senators Challenge FCC Rural Broadband Map

Republican and Democratic senators are expressing concerns about the coverage map the Federal Communications Commission is planning to use to decide where to put more than $4.5 billion in rural broadband subsidies, and they want more time to challenge the agency's findings. The FCC put out a map of areas eligible for Mobility Fund Phase II money over the next decade as part of its move to redirect wireless carrier subsidies where private capital was already at work for, as FCC Chairman Ajit Pai put it, "something far more useful: bringing 4G LTE service to rural Americans who don’t have it today."  But a group led by Sens Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) said the map is significantly flawed; the group wants the FCC to extend the window for that robust challenge by another 90 days. In a letter to Chairman Pai the senators said the FCC map shows areas in their home states that are purportedly served by 4G LTE, when experience on the ground suggests otherwise.