FCC Mapping Hinders Broadband Grants

Hopefully by now, most communities with poor broadband will have heard about the gigantic federal grants on the way to provide broadband solutions. The largest is the $42.5 Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program that will be administered by states, with the funding and the rules established by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The federal grants give priority to locations that are unserved (broadband speeds under 25/3 Mbps) and can also be used to fund underserved locations (speeds between 25/3 and 100/20 Mbps). The troubling provision is that Section 60102 of the legislation makes it clear the determination of eligible locations will rely upon the Federal Communications Commission's maps. I think it’s a huge problem if we need corrected FCC maps before we can decide which parts of the country are eligible for these grants. There will be a lot of honest mistakes made in the first few iterations of the new mapping as internet service providers (ISPs) adapt to the new reporting methodology. It might take a few rounds of reporting until ISPs get the new maps right. It’s already a shame that the mapping issue is immediately going to delay the BEAD grants from being awarded this year when millions of homes are waiting for better broadband. This mapping issue will easily add six months to a year until grants are awarded – and that means a longer time until there is a broadband solution deployed.

[Doug Dawson is President of CCG Consulting.]