The FCC is seeking public comment on broadband data collection challenge process…
Comment Date: February 19, 2024
Reply Comment Date: March 5, 2024
By this Public Notice, the Broadband Data Task Force, in coordination with the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB), Wireline Competition Bureau, and Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) (collectively BDTF), seeks public comment on its Broadband Data Collection (BDC) challenge processes. The BDC is the most granular, detailed collection of broadband availability data the FCC has ever gathered or released, depicting location-level information on mass-market fixed broadband internet access services available across the United States as well as standardized coverage maps of 3G, 4G, and 5G mobile wireless services. Importantly, the BDC—for the first time ever—also provides opportunities for consumers, State, local, and Tribal governmental entities, and other stakeholders to challenge the coverage and broadband availability information reported to the FCC and depicted in the new maps.
Pursuant to section 802(b)(5)(D) of the Communications Act, as amended by Pub. L. No. 116-130, the Commission is required to submit a report to Congress that evaluates the challenge processes and considers whether the Commission should commence an inquiry on the need for other tools to help identify potential inaccuracies in BDC data and improve the accuracy of those data.[1] Comments received in response to this Public Notice will inform this report. To this end, we request input on the extent to which stakeholders are participating in the challenge processes, whether they find the challenge processes to be “user-friendly”, and, if not, what improvements the Commission can make to its processes to make participation more user-friendly, and the effectiveness of the challenge processes in improving the quality and accuracy of our broadband availability data.
[1] See 47 U.S.C. § 642(b)(5)(D); Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act, Pub. L. No. 116-130, 134 Stat. 228 (2020) (codified at 47 U.S.C. §§ 641-646) (Broadband DATA Act or BDA), 47 U.S.C. § 642(a)(1)(A). The report must be submitted to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. 47 U.S.C. § 642(b)(5)(D).