ACA Connects to NTIA: Maps Before Broadband Equity Money

Smaller and mid-sized cable/broadband operators are telling the Biden Administration not to hand out billions of dollars in broadband subsidies to the states until there are better broadband deployment maps, and when they do hand it out, to make sure it goes to unserved areas first. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has sought comment on the rules for its Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD), comprising $42.45 billion to states to develop their own broadband plans and to build out infrastructure and promote adoption in unserved and underserved communities. In a letter to NTIA chief Alan Davidson, ACA Connects President Matt Polka said that "accurate, location-based" maps are key and that while the Federal Communications Commission appears to be on track to produce its first take on a location-based map later in 2022 or early 2023, that map won't be sufficiently accurate. He said this is because it will be based on "a Broadband Fabric created by an FCC vendor and the filings of broadband providers," both sets of unverified information for which the FCC will need to allow some time for a challenge process. "In sum," said Polka, "NTIA has little choice but to wait for sufficiently accurate maps before determining the proper final allocation of grant funds to States. At most, based on the initial, granular but inaccurate maps, the NTIA could distribute a partial amount of funds – an amount that does not require any clawbacks."