NCTA Elaborates on its Broadband Mapping Alternative

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association has provided the Federal Communications Commission with some more details about its proposal to improve broadband deployment data, which the FCC collects from carriers to determine if advanced telecommunications is being deployed in a reasonable and timely manner. NCTA wants to get more granular data by using "shape files", rather than the current census blocks, that illustrate the actual contours of service. Crowdsourcing could help make sure providers aren't overstating coverage areas, NCTA says, as one provider did in the FCC's most recent Section 706 draft report on broadband availability. Cable operators argue that using addresses, as USTelecom has proposed, is imprecise since some folks don't have traditional addresses: like tribal lands or rural roads. NCTA also commented on Microsoft's recent calls for better data from the FCC. "The Commission should not be distracted by Microsoft’s unsubstantiated attack on the Form 477 [broadband data collection] process," NCTA said.