Are We Up to the Challenge? An analysis of the FCC Broadband Data Collection Fixed Internet Availability Challenges

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the FCC's broadband challenge process, revealing patterns in challenge submissions across technologies and regions to improve broadband mapping accuracy and fund allocation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of challenge submissions to the FCC broadband map, highlighting engagement levels and technology-specific issues for better infrastructure planning.

Findings

58% of challenges targeted terrestrial fixed wireless

Nebraska had over 75% of locations submitting challenges

Challenges varied across access technologies and regions

Abstract

In 2021, the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program allocated $42.45 billion to enhance high-speed internet access across the United States. As part of this funding initiative, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) developed a national coverage map to guide the allocation of BEAD funds. This map was the key determinant to direct BEAD investments to areas in need of broadband infrastructure improvements. The FCC encouraged public participation in refining this coverage map through the submission of "challenges" to either locations on the map or the status of broadband at any location on the map. These challenges allowed citizens and organizations to report discrepancies between the map's data and actual broadband availability, ensuring a more equitable distribution of funds. In this paper, we present a study analyzing the nature and distribution of these challenges across different access technologies and geographic areas. Among several other insights, we observe, for example, that the majority of challenges (about 58%) were submitted against terrestrial fixed wireless technologies as well as that the state of Nebraska had the strongest engagement in the challenge process with more than 75% of its broadband-serviceable locations having submitted at least one challenge.