Data & Mapping

On June 30, the Federal Communications Commission opened the first ever window to collect information from broadband providers in every state and territory about precisely where they provide broadband services. September 2 marked the close of this first data collection window—the next important step forward in our efforts to build more accurate broadband maps, which are much-needed, long overdue, and mandated by Congress. I wanted to give everyone a quick update on what we’ve done, what we’re announcing today, and what people can expect in the months ahead.

The Federal Communications Commission announced that as of September 12, 2022, state, local, and Tribal governments, service providers, and other entities can begin to file bulk challenges to data in the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric, which serves as the foundation for the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) fixed availability maps.

One of the hurdles faced by communities pursuing broadband grants is that many grant programs allow incumbent broadband providers to challenge the validity of a grant. The most common challenge is for an incumbent provider to claim that a grant incorrectly includes homes and businesses that already have access to fast broadband. It appears that the purpose of many challenges is to delay the process, with the ultimate hope to derail or cancel grant requests.

In Beaver and Fayette Counties, Pennsylvania, the "Connect Beaver County Broadband Program" by the Butler, Pennsylvania-based Armstrong company, and Arkansas-based Windstream, was chosen to provide internet services to several locations throughout the two counties. The projects are a part of the counties' larger efforts to bring new broadband and improved services to parts of 24 municipalities within the county by utilizing nearly $20 million in American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funding. The counties aim to expand broadband service where service is poor or unavailable.

A last-minute challenge has stalled broadband installation in a poor northeastern Louisiana community that Gov. John Bel Edwards (D-LA) used as a backdrop for the July 25 launch of 67 grants to extend high-speed Internet to underserved rural communities. The effort to quash the successful bid for East Carroll Parish claims that about two-thirds of the homes set to get internet access are already being served. It’s just one of 26 complaints statewide that threaten to delay the delivery of high-speed Internet to about 400,000 people in rural Louisiana.

States and territories were required to inform the National Telecommunications and Information Administration by July 18 if they intended to participate in the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. After NTIA approves a state’s anticipated planning process (due August 15), BEAD unlocks $5 million to each participating state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico ($1.25 million for the four smaller territories) for initial planning.

Internet service providers’ discriminatory underinvestment in broadband infrastructure and services—referred to as “digital redlining” for disproportionately affecting low-income communities of color—is drawing increased public scrutiny, including from policymakers.

Conexon Partner and former Federal Communications Commission planner Jonathan Chambers warned that the FCC’s broadband mapping effort is headed for disaster—flagging potential issues with state-level mapping efforts which he said could slow or bias the funding allocation process for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program support. There are two primary problems at the federal level. The first is the method Congress has chosen for calculating the ratio of BEAD funding given to each state on top of the baseline $100 million allocation that has been granted across the board. Un

Small broadband providers in the rural US are scrambling to meet a September 1 deadline to submit coverage data to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or risk being locked out of the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program (BEAD). FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel opened the agency's broadband data collection portal on June 30. The data requested will inform the first draft of a new federal broadband coverage map, which states will then have the opportunity to challenge with their own data.

When the Federal Communications Commission first adopted the new broadband data collection and mapping rules, the FCC had a requirement that broadband providers must get FCC mapping data certified by a professional engineer or by a corporate officer that meets specific qualifications to make the certification. The genesis of this ruling was fairly clear – the FCC has taken a lot of flak about broadband providers that have been submitting clearly inaccurate data about broadband coverage. To some degree, this was the FCC’s fault because the agency never reviewed what broadband providers submi