Closing the digital divide requires collecting accurate data to ensure rural areas receive their fair share of the $42.5 billion in broadband expansion subsidies soon to be released by the Commerce Department, a national trade association said.
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, representing more than 900 electric cooperatives, warned this week that faulty data from the Federal Communications Commission could cause rural communities to miss out on vital funding.
As the clock ticks toward the release of funds through the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment program, NRECA pressed the FCC during separate meetings with legal advisors to Commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington on Oct. 1, 2 and 3 to address inaccuracies in the agency’s broadband mapping data.
Cooperative.com elaborates that NRECA wants the mapping to look at symmetrical speeds…
On October 7, 2024, NRECA filed in the FCC’s Annual 706 Report on Broadband Availability, stressing our consistent position that the Commission adopt a symmetrical 100/100 Mbps benchmark to adequately reflect true consumer demand and urging that it consider raising the long-term benchmark from 1 Gbps/500 Mbps service to 1Gbps/1 Gbps symmetrical service. We also stressed that mobile services should be viewed as complementary and not a substitute for fixed broadband to determine advanced telecommunications capability.