The FCC has no idea how many people don’t have broadband access

A new broadband mapping system is starting to show just how inaccurate the Federal Communications Commission's connectivity data is. In Missouri and Virginia, up to 38 percent of rural homes and businesses that the FCC counts as having broadband access actually do not, the new research found. That's more than 445,000 unconnected homes and businesses that the FCC would call "served" with its current system. Given that the new research covered just two states with a combined population of 14.6 million (or 4.5% of the 327.2 million people nationwide), it's likely that millions of homes nationwide have been wrongly counted as served by broadband. 

The new research was conducted by CostQuest Associates, a consulting firm working for USTelecom, an industry lobby group that represents AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, Frontier, and other broadband providers. The CostQuest/USTelecom two-state pilot created a map (or "fabric") of virtually all homes and businesses that could be served by broadband if Internet providers built out to them. The pilot also asked ISPs to submit coverage data, and the ISP-submitted data was compared to the statewide maps to determine how many buildings lacked access. "Creating the fabric revealed that in just two states over 450,000 homes and businesses exist that are counted as 'served' under current 477 reporting that are not receiving service from participating providers," CostQuest wrote. "While not every broadband provider chose to participate in this pilot—so the actual number of unserved may be lower—that still leaves the potential for substantial misrepresentations about service availability." The pilot also showed that current broadband-availability data is wrong in 48% of rural census blocks and is "in many cases significantly different."