FCC’s Broadband Mapping Fabric Will Now Drive Other Agency Programs

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2025 – The national broadband map that has featured significantly in the deployment of the bipartisan infrastructure law will now be used by the Federal Communications Commission for other agency internet programs.

On Jan. 10, the FCC adopted the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric as the authoritative dataset for calculating broadband deployment obligations and verifying compliance under its high-cost programs, like the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.

This shift to granular, location-specific data marks the FCC’s first major departure from relying on older data sources like the Connect America Cost Model, introduced in 2012, and Census Bureau data, which often failed to reflect real-world conditions, experts said.