Data & Mapping

The Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have recommended filing dates for bulk challenges to the National Broadband Map, which is updated twice yearly. But stakeholders hadn’t seen similar guidance from either agency about individual challenges.

In a mad scramble to verify a map that will be used to determine Colorado’s share of federal broadband funding, state officials trying to meet a Jan. 13, 2023 deadline made nearly 15,000 challenges in three weeks. The majority were accepted. Of those, about 13,000 were submitted for incorrect addresses, the wrong number of units in a building, and other inaccurate information. So far, 6,700 location challenges were accepted.

States must be the arbiter of coverage disputes for the allocation of coming federal funds, said broadband experts. The $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program directs states to design their own grant programs. To successfully implement these state grant programs, states must “be the source of truth for challenges,” said Peggy Schaffer of mapping software company VETRO. It is the responsibility of states to determine truth by sifting through many sources of coverage claims, said Schaffer.

Georgia’s Clayton County, a growing community that includes Hartsfield Airport, has been ignored by large providers that have not upgraded their broadband facilities to support higher speeds necessary for remote work and learning. This leaves many residents, many of whom are low- or middle-income, with slow-speed DSL or cable connections. The lack of broadband facilities is just one problem for the county.

On December 20, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act. This Act directs the Federal Communications Commission to incorporate, in consultation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), publicly available data on maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity into its Mapping Broadband Health in America platform by June 18, 2023.

The Institute for Policy & Social Research (IPSR) at the University of Kansas received funding from the Economic Development Administration at the US Department of Commerce under the CARES Act to study broadband access in the state of Kansas. To conduct this study, IPSR examined existing data, fielded our own survey of broadband speeds and access, conducted focus groups, and commissioned a chapter on the digital divide within the state of Kansas.

US Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and John Thune (R-SD) introduced the Accurate Map for Broadband Investment Act, bipartisan legislation to ensure that the Federal Communications Commission has time to update and fix the  National Broadband Map before the Department of Commerce fully allocates broadband infrastructure funding.

Delaware has been vocal about its universal broadband efforts, as it hopes to become the first state to connect every resident and business with high-speed internet. But there is still work to be done before and after universal coverage happens. Delaware’s Chief Information Officer, Roddy Flynn, has announced that the state's broadband target is now 100/100 Megabits per second (Mbps) speeds for every citizen, up from a previous target of 25 Mbps. The state has set aside $100 million in funding to achieve this goal and plans to focus on building fiber optic infrastructure to support it.

T-Mobile has long been a participant in the Federal Communications Commission's spectrum auctions, which the Commission has used for 30 years to rapidly assign licenses. These auctions fuel the U.S. economy—they’ve returned $233 billion to taxpayers so far, and once armed with this spectrum, wireless companies have spent another $635 billion building out networks.

Since digital technologies first emerged about 30 years ago, Black Americans have trailed in terms of access. This “digital divide” is real, it’s important and we can do better. According to our analysis of data from the American Community Survey, 40 percent of Black Americans do not have high-speed, fixed broadband at home, compared to 28 percent of whites.