[Update] Adding Unserved Locations with the Latest FCC Broadband Map Data

I finished updating the number of Served, Underserved, and Unserved based on the National Broadband map with updates and corrections as of June 15, 2023. Those numbers are available in this tab of the spreadsheet. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) appears to have done the $4.2 billion (10%) high-cost allocation, as I guessed in a previous post. Following the statute, it allocated the high-cost funding based on high-cost locations in 80%+ Unserved areas, of which there aren’t many. While I don’t think it’s fair to high-cost states like Nebraska, Iowa, and the Dakotas, it’s hard to blame NTIA for this outcome: the law clearly directed NTIA on how to allocate the funding. Another small follow-up about Michigan: Whereas previously the two wireless providers responsible for almost tanking Michigan’s allocation filed coverage over 575,420 locations, in the latest update to the map, they’re down to 253,775 locations. As a result, Michigan’s Unserved locations are up from 315,620 to 366,910 — a difference of 52,768 and an increase in allocation of $141 million from the estimates.