[co-author: Nicole McFarland]
Key Points
- This morning, the FCC released a pre-production draft of the new nationwide broadband map, which will drive allocation of $42 billion in BEAD grants next summer. Interested parties have until January 13, 2023 to challenge the map.
After years of broadband data collection, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today released a draft of its new nationwide map of fixed and mobile broadband availability. The map interface is available here.
The revised map will be the basis for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) allocation to the states of $42 billion in Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) grants next summer. Grant funds will be divided among state and tribal governments, who will issue subgrants prioritizing broadband buildout in currently unserved and underserved areas, as identified by the new map. For more on the map revision and grant allocation processes, see last week’s alert.
The agency is accepting both individual challenges to the availability data for specific locations as well as bulk challenges to the data for multiple locations. Individual challenges can be submitted via the map interface, and the Broadband Data Task Force will host a technical assistance workshop for those filing bulk challenges on November 30.
The deadline to submit challenges to the map data is January 13, 2023. Please contact one of the authors if you have questions about filing challenges in advance of the January 13 deadline, or about the map revision and grant allocation processes.
