Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (DATA) Act

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) and the Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) initiated the urban rate survey for 2024. The information collected in this survey will be used to develop voice and broadband reasonable comparability benchmarks that will be in place in 2024. The FCC will be collecting the rates offered by a random sample of providers of fixed services identified using December 2022 data filed in the FCC Broadband Data Collection (BDC) tool.

The Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Data Task Force, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Wireline Competition Bureau, and the Office of Economics and Analytics seek comment on a Petition for Extension of Waiver (Petition) filed by the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) and USTelecom – The Broadband Association (USTelecom and, together with CCA, Petitioners).

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) released illustrative results for the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Enhanced A-CAM) (v2.6.0) program recently adopted by the FCC. These results utilize three different combinations of per-location funding caps for unserved locations and funding percentages for locations already deployed by the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC).

There is one mapping issue that unfortunately messed up the count of eligible passings for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program grants and that is going to be a real concern. Both T-Mobile and Verizon have activated rural cell sites that can deliver home broadband using licensed spectrum that can be 100/20 Mbps or a little faster.

The Vermont Community Broadband Board announced that the state will receive $229 million in federal funding from a White House initiative to expand high-speed broadband access. That figure is some $50 million more than state officials had anticipated — good news for the effort to wire up rural Vermont. In the lead-up to the announcement, officials worried that Vermont would get too small a piece of the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program pie.

The Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Data Task Force announced that entities can begin submitting bulk challenges to the latest, June 2023 version of the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric. Bulk Fabric challenges submitted in advance of September 8, 2023, are most likely to be reviewed and adjudicated in time to be accounted for in the next iteration of the Fabric (December 2023).

The Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Data Task Force announced that the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) filing window for submitting broadband availability and other data as of June 30, 2023, opened on Monday, July 3, 2023. Facilities-based broadband service providers may begin to file in the BDC system data that reflects where they made mass-market broadband internet access service available as of June 30, 2023. Such entities, as well as providers of fixed voice services, must also submit the subscription data as of June 30, 2023 required under Form 477 in the BDC system.

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.

I get asked a lot what I think of the Federal Communication Commission's Broadband Map and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) allocation of the $42.5 billion in broadband funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Here’s what I think: this has been a fair process and a fair outcome. As far as I’m aware, no state has cause to be very upset. I highly doubt we’ll see lawsuits and angry senators yelling at Federal Communications Commission and National Telecommunications and Information Administration officials.

Twenty-seven states are expected to see larger allocations in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program based on the updated Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Map in comparison with earlier estimates based on older data, according to a new analysis conducted by researchers at Cartesian for provider association ACA Connects. The other 23 states will see less funding, according to the updated estimates.