WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Federal Communications Commission has announced that it will unveil a pre-production draft of new broadband maps on November 18, 2022.
This will be the first version of the map required by the Broadband DATA Act and will begin an ongoing process to create more accurate maps of broadband coverage in the U.S.
The previous maps had been widely criticized for inaccuracies.
The FCC noted that broadband availability will be based on data submitted by providers during the initial Broadband Data Collection filing window and will reflect services available as of June 30, 2022.
When published, the draft maps will display location level information on broadband availability throughout the country and will allow people to search for their address, and review and dispute the services reported by providers at their location.
Going forward, the FCC plans to accept bulk challenges to the reported availability data from state and Tribal governments and other entities. As a result, this map will continually improve and refine the broadband availability data relied upon by the FCC, other government agencies, and the public, the FCC explained.
Historically, the FCC’s maps have been based on broadband availability data collected at just the census block level rather than the location level, which kept unserved locations hidden if they were in partially served census blocks.
To generate this version of the map, providers’ availability data has been matched to the location information contained in the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric (Fabric), the FCC said.
The Fabric is a common dataset of all locations in the United States where fixed broadband internet access service is or can be installed. To improve the accuracy of the FCC maps, the Commission began accepting challenges to Fabric information from providers, states, local and Tribal governments starting in September. Once the draft maps launch, individuals will also be able to submit challenges, or request corrections, to Fabric locations directly through the map interface. They will also be able to request missing locations be added. Information from those challenges will be incorporated in future versions of the Fabric.
The Biden administration will begin handing out billions of dollars in broadband subsidies in mid-2023 and the more accurate maps will play an important role in identifying areas lacking broadband services.
For more information about the BDC, visit the Broadband Data Collection website at https://www.fcc.gov/BroadbandData.
