Data & Mapping

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Notice of Funding (NOFO) for their new Broadband Infrastructure Progam provides a complicated definition for eligible service areas. Here is our analysis of the NOFO protocols on data usage and mapping for program proposals:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Agriculture are spending $8 million to build a rural broadband testing site in Ames, Iowa, that both industry engineers and researchers from Iowa State University plan to use for developing wireless technologies and piloting rural connectivity strategies.

Cable broadband operators represented by NCTA - the Internet & Television Association are no fans of the Biden Administration's new "Indicators of Broadband Need" mapping tool recently unveiled by the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA). NCTA reiterated its longstanding support of federal efforts to create broadband mapping tools, but said that the NTIA's new map takes from unreliable and inaccurate data sources.

Groups representing broadband providers questioned the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's new "Indicators of Broadband Need" map, with various statements on its efficacy. Cable trade group NCTA - The Internet and Television Association argues that the interactive tool has "obscured, rather than clarified, the true state of broadband with [a] mashup of disparate, and often inaccurate, data sources." NCTA also supports federal efforts to create a "relia

This digital map displays key indicators of broadband needs across the country.  The “Indicators of Broadband Need” tool is the first interactive, public map that allows users to explore different datasets about where people do not have quality Internet access. It contains data aggregated at the county, census tract, and census block level from the US Census Bureau, the Federal Communications Commission, Measurement Lab, Ookla, and Microsoft.

At least in the state of Virginia, counties are rural, yet they have been left out of the design of broadband deployment and the conversation around rural broadband. Nevertheless, they are a crucial part of the local broadband story, and their support can go a long way in bridging the digital divide. In this article, we offer preliminary analysis of a question about broadband deployment.

For decades, policymakers in Washington and state capitals have fretted about the patchwork of broadband access in the United States, which has held back economic development in underserved areas and became a major problem during the pandemic. Now, after years of federal subsidies that have improved but not solved the problem, the Biden administration is proposing to spend $100 billion over the next eight years to finally connect every American household to high-speed internet. But solving the problem isn’t just a matter of cutting a big check to fund the installation of fiber pipelines.

The Federal Communications Commission has already signed up 2.3 million households for the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, which was designed to help low-income users with affordable internet access during the pandemic. But while the agency is heralding these numbers as a success, the program appears to be plagued by ongoing issues that are causing some internet service providers to block eligible Americans from accessing up to $50 a month off of their internet bills.

Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program enrolled over 2.3 million households in all 50 states, Washington (DC), Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and American Samoa. Additionally, at the agency’s direction, the  Universal Service Administrative Company debuted a new data dashboard for advocates, members of Congress, and the general public to track the progress of the Emerge