FCC Finally Releases Federal Broadband Map, But State Officials Have Doubts

Some fear that state offices will lack the necessary resources to fully participate in the fabric challenge process.

David B. McGarry

Dec 27, 2022 — 3 min read

US country is at a crossroads concept vector illustration. USA map made of many people. Map of United States of America with question mark in the center. Group of people stay in formation.

The Federal Communications Commission’s mapping process has drawn much scrutiny. Much of the broadband industry discusses the new map’s looming role in allocating funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the bipartisan infrastructure law largely administered by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

But the FCC, the independent regulatory agency charged by Congress with the broadband map, seems equally focused on its long-term potential.

The 12 Days of Broadband 2022 (click to open)

On the First Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:
A Symmetrical Gigabit Network
On the Second Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:
24 Reverse-Preemption Pole Attachment States (2022 edition)
On the Third Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:
Section Two-30 of the Communications Decency Act
On the Fourth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:
$42.5 billion in Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment funds
On the Fifth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:
5 Federal Communications Commissioners
On the Sixth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:
Wi-Fi 6E
On the Seventh Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:
7.7% annual inflation rate
On the Eighth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:
8,132,968 census blocks and a national Broadband Fabric
On the Ninth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:
$9 Billion Universal Service Fund
On the Tenth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:
$10 Billion Remaining in the Affordable Connectivity Program
On the Eleventh Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:
11th Year of Xi Jinping’s rule in China
On the Twelfth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:
12 or More State Broadband Officers

The FCC has repeatedly emphasized that stakeholder challenges to mapping data are critical to producing an accurate map. State governments, service providers, individuals, and other stakeholders can dispute the map’s availability data as well as its location data — the latter contained in the dataset called the “fabric.”