Data & Mapping

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.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (IIJA) $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program holds out tremendous opportunity to close the broadband availability gap.

Attempts to pass comprehensive transmission siting reform failed in the recent congressional debt ceiling negotiations. It may be time to explore a different approach to accelerating transmission build-out: encouraging voluntary efforts by developers and stakeholders to create stakeholder-driven transmission corridors.

At the time the Federal Communications Commission Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program winners were announced, $9.23 billion was committed over 10-years to cover over 5 million Unserved locations.

The Federal Communications Commission announced an important update to its Mapping Broadband Health in America platform to incorporate maternal health data, enabling policymakers, public health experts, clinicians, researchers, innovators, and other public and private stakeholders to better explore the intersection of broadband and maternal health.

The US is a country is covered in cable broadband. More than 86% of the country has access to at least one cable or fiber broadband service according to Federal Communications Commission maps. Only 5% of locations among the 50 states and DC have access to three or more cable or fiber (I’ll call them wired) internet service providers (ISP). Thirty-two percent of locations have access to two wired offerings. And 49% have access to only one wired offering. Importantly, 13.5% of locations have access to zero wired offerings.

“Internet access is no longer nice-to-have, but need-to-have for everyone, everywhere. As we emerge from the pandemic, there are many lessons to learn about what worked and what didn’t work, especially around what it takes to keep us all connected,” said Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “When we need access to the internet, we aren’t thinking about how much data it takes to complete a task, we just know it needs to get done. It’s time the FCC take a fresh look at how data caps impact consumers and competition.”