Data & Mapping

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai touted inaccurate broadband-availability data in order to claim that his deregulatory agenda sped up deployment despite clear warning signs that the FCC was relying on false information.

The Federal Communications Commission proposed a $163,912 fine, the maximum amount allowed by law, against Internet service provider Barrier Communications Corporation d/b/a BarrierFree for apparently reporting inaccurate information that significantly inflated its broadband subscription numbers, failing to file required deployment data, making false statements to FCC investigators, and failing to respond to other inquiries.

Wyoming internet users have benefited the most from higher broadband speeds during the months of the pandemic, with average download speeds increasing by a whopping 52%. This is likely a result of a statewide push by the Wyoming Broadband Council to improve internet connectivity and speeds to underserved rural populations. Similar state-sponsored initiatives seem to have contributed to speed improvements elsewhere.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced important changes to the FCC’s data team. These changes will aid the FCC’s work in bridging the digital divide and improve the quality and reliability of the data on which the FCC bases its actions. Steve Rosenberg will serve as permanent Chief Data and Analytics Officer for the agency, overseeing implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act and continuing his work on implementation of the Broadband DATA Act.

We use a county-level panel dataset from 2012 to 2018 to assess the impacts of various state policies on total and rural broadband availability in the US. The primary dependent variable is the percentage of residents with access to 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3 Mbps upload speeds via a fixed connection, with alternative specifications considering other aspects of availability such as technology type and competition. We control for the main determinants of Internet availability such as income, education, age, and population density.

AT&T and T-Mobile are fighting a Federal Communications Commission plan to require drive tests that would verify whether the mobile carriers' coverage claims are accurate. The carriers' objections came in response to the FCC seeking comment on a plan to improve the nation's inadequate broadband maps.

The Federal Communications Commission released its recently adopted notice of inquiry to guide its annual broadband deployment report. One source of contention surrounding these analyses, of course, is the FCC’s reliance on shoddy data reported by the telecom companies, using metrics inclined to overstate coverage. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Congress have moved to improve the process via recent rulemaking and legislation.

As I noted in my dissent from 2019’s Notice of Inquiry, I fundamentally disagree with the approach of comparing broadband providers’ deployment in one year against their deployments in prior years to measure “progress.” I continue to believe this approach gives us little understanding of internet inequality and the ways to combat it.

By seeking comment, as we do here, on where service is and is not, we should be developing a record that supports an honest assessment of the availability of broadband across the country. But the ugly truth is that when the agency released its last Broadband Deployment Report earlier in 2020 it concluded that broadband deployment was “reasonable and timely” nationwide. In other words, it found all was well.

The Federal Communications Commission begins its latest annual statutorily-mandated assessment of its progress in closing the digital divide. In the 2020 Broadband Deployment Report, the FCC concluded that for the third consecutive year such advanced telecommunications capabilities are being timely deployed. While the 2020 Report acknowledged there is still work to be done to fully close the digital divide, more Americans than ever before now have access to the benefits of broadband as the FCC’s policies have created a regulatory environment to stimulate broadband investment and deployment.