Filing window runs through March 1, 2023
As federal regulators continue their efforts to better quantify where broadband is available and where it is not, the second window for data collection of where network operators are offering broadband services opens today. The Federal Communications Commission is urging service providers to turn in their availability data as soon as possible.
The Broadband Data Collection filing window runs through March 1, 2023. This period is meant for facilities-based service providers to file information via the FCC’s BDC online system on where they offered broadband service as of December 31, 2022. Authenticated organizations which track broadband availability in their jurisdictions, such as state, local and Tribal governments, can also submit such data via the BDC by the March 1 deadline.
The FCC said in a statement that it encourages filers to submit their broadband availability data as soon as possible in the filing window, so that if there are any problems with the data, it can be corrected before the deadline.
The FCC has published a “pre-production” version of its searchable broadband map of availability and begun accepting challenges to that data, and FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a late-December blog post that the agency has already received thousands of challenges from consumers. She added that given the time constraints on challenge rules and NTIA’s plans for broadband funding, challenges have the best chance of being resolved if they are filed by January 13.
The FCC’s goal for broadband mapping, she added, is “to create a robust, reliable, and continually evolving dataset of where high-speed internet is and where it is not. It will serve as a strong foundation that Federal agencies, states, Tribes, researchers, and other stakeholders can all build upon to address other issues that intersect with broadband availability. We appreciate the feedback we have received so far. Together, working in partnership, we will continue to improve our maps and make them a useful tool that will help get broadband to all.”
