Hearing on Improving Broadband Mapping to Tackle Digital Divide

The House Small Business Committee's Subcommittee on Contracting and Infrastructure held a hearing focused on improving broadband mapping in rural areas across the country. The hearing featured testimony from rural broadband carriers on the challenges that they face and ways broadband mapping can be improved going forward. 

“UniTel continues to strive to provide great service to its customers in rural Maine,” said Beth Osler, Director of Customer and Industry Relations at UniTel, Inc. in Unity, Maine. “However, as long as broadband maps remain unreliable and riddled with erroneous, overly broad coverage claims, we will not be able to maximize our efforts to reach all unserved areas or to sustain services in areas where funding is needed to do so.” 

“Some of the challenges we have encountered as a small business include difficulty finding staff time to identify and apply for grants, insufficient staff to meet reporting requirements, and inaccurate data in federal broadband maps subsequently impacting federal grant funding,” said Dan Stelpflug Director of Operation, Engineering & Technology at Allamakee Clayton Electric Cooperative in Potsville, Iowa. “We hope the Congress will encourage the FCC to continue working with small carriers toward mutually agreeable resolutions to issues like ours.”

“All small businesses know the importance of basing decisions on reliable data,” said Tim Donovan, SVP of Legislative Affairs at the Competitive Carriers Association. “To close the digital divide, and provide connectivity for millions of Americans living in rural areas, policymakers must take actions to deliver coverage maps that are based on reliable, real-world coverage data. With improved parameters in place, a robust data collection will promote the inclusion of rural communities in today’s digital economy.”