Telecom, Cable Groups Push Rival Plans on FCC Broadband Mapping

Influential industry groups are vying to get the Federal Communications Commission to adopt competing proposals for how to map broadband coverage across the country. A consortium of groups and companies including USTelecom, whose members include AT&T, Verizon, and smaller broadband providers, is proposing that the FCC create a new nationwide map -- using satellite imagery, digital land parcel data, and other data sources -- to track all locations that could be served by broadband. USTelecom is running a pilot project in VA and MO that it plans to submit to the FCC later in 2019 to showcase its national potential.

NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, which represents the cable industry including Comcast and Charter, is urging the FCC to change its reporting requirements to include data called shapefiles, which can include subscribers’ addresses, geographic coordinates, and other location information, to make the FCC’s broadband map more accurate.

Microsoft and broadband access advocates are urging the FCC to include more data sources, instead of relying solely on unverified ISP data. It’s also urging the FCC to incorporate subscription data and other third-party data, including its own, to complement the data it receives from ISPs.