BroadbandNow Research manually checked broadband availability of more than 11,000 addresses using Federal Communications Commission Form 477 data and estimates that 42 million Americans do not have the ability to purchase broadband internet. The FCC's Broadband Deployment Report states that 21.3 million Americans, or 6.5 percent of the population, lack access to broadband internet, including wired and fixed wireless connections. Here’s what we did and how BroadbandNow arrived at this estimate:

• 9 large broadband service providers were selected with “check availability” tools. These tools allow users to enter an address and receive a response as to whether wired and/or fixed wireless service is available.
• 11,663 addresses (from a set of more than 1 million) where at least one of these nine providers offer service were selected.
• Each address/provider combination was checked. BroadbandNow found that for 19.6 percent of combinations, the provider’s tool indicates service is not available.
• Some addresses are serviced by more than one of the nine large providers according to FCC data. For 13.0 percent of addresses, none of the ISPs’ tools indicate service is available.
• FCC data shows that approximately half of these addresses are also served by one or more local or hyper-local broadband providers (the US has more than 2,000 of these). BroadbandNow was not able to check availability for local ISPs and therefore conservatively assumed that residents of these addresses could receive broadband.
• In total, BroadbandNow estimates that 42 million Americans do not have the ability to purchase broadband internet. This is an additional 6.5 percent of Americans beyond FCC estimates.

FCC overreporting disproportionately impacts rural communities. As an example, in South Carolina, where 50 percent of residents live in an urban area, unserved addresses are 30 percent higher than FCC estimates. Compare that to Arizona, where 90 percent of residents live in an urban area and unserved addresses are 11 percent higher.

Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL) announced that Illinois releasing $50 million in funding for the first round of matching grants of Connect Illinois, the state's $420 million statewide broadband expansion. Applicants are required to provide at least 50% of non-state funding, effectively doubling the size of the nation's largest state competitive grant program to expand high-speed internet. Applicants are anticipated to include internet service providers, rural cooperatives, nonprofits and local governments. Grant responses for the initial $50 million round of funding can be submitted through Friday, April 3, 2020. Up to $5 million per project will be available during the first round, and subsequent rounds will follow over the course of the next several years. Connect Illinois is centered around three main outcomes: education, telehealth and economic development. It aims to provide universal access to basic broadband for homes, businesses, and community anchor institutions by 2024. The Rebuild Illinois capital plan dedicated $420 million toward broadband expansion — $400 million for the grant program and $20 million to strengthen the Illinois Century Network. The matching requirements in the grant program will leverage state funds to attract at least an additional $400 million from internet service providers.  

"What makes Connect Illinois sing is its historic investment in infrastructure coupled with meaningful community engagement in broadband planning and capacity building," said Adrianne Benton Furniss, Executive Director, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. "Community leaders of all stripes should play an important role because they are closest to local needs and have earned peoples' confidence and trust. Their voice in the creation of local broadband access, adoption, digital inclusion, and utilization strategies will help to ensure the success of Governor Pritzker's long-term economic development plans for the state of Illinois."

"The Connect Illinois Broadband Strategic Plan rightly recognizes that ubiquitous broadband usage is a necessary part of delivering Illinois' future progress in agriculture, energy, health care, information, manufacturing, and transportation," said Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Senior Fellow Jonathan Sallet. "That's why it's so important that the Illinois broadband plan seeks progress on deployment, plus digital skills and equity."

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai proposed providing additional opportunities for unlicensed white space devices to deliver wireless broadband services in rural areas. Such devices operate in portions of the broadcast television bands (channels 2-35) and spectrum not being used for authorized services. Specifically, Chairman Pai is proposing to permit higher transmit power and higher antennas for fixed white space devices in rural areas. If adopted, these changes would allow white space devices to reach users at greater distances, thus enabling improved broadband coverage. Higher power would also enable signals to better penetrate foliage, buildings, and other obstacles. Additionally, his proposal would permit higher power mobile operations within geofenced areas and proposes rule revisions to facilitate the development of new and innovative narrowband Internet of Things-based services. Because white space device operations must protect other authorized services from interference, Chairman Pai is also proposing to increase the minimum required separation distances for white space devices operating at higher power.

The FCC will vote on his proposal, which he shared with his fellow Commissioners, at the FCC’s monthly Open Meeting on February 28. If this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is adopted, the public will have the opportunity to provide feedback prior to the FCC adopting final rules.