Bloomberg recently reported the FCC is investigating allegations of ISPs providing the Commission with inaccurate information for the agency’s broadband coverage maps. The maps will enable NTIA to determine fund allocation and the locations to be funded through the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.
NewStreet Research Policy Advisor Blair Levin believes the Bloomberg story is likely correct and the agency is probably concerned about information it received concerning the maps. The FCC has not told anyone publicly what companies it’s investigating, the Chief of Staff for former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt states in a client report.
Levin points to news reports and blogs alleging misrepresentations. Bloomberg reported on local officials questioning whether Verizon and T-Mobile had overstated their coverage. Ars Technica alleged that Comcast engaged in some misrepresentations and that those allegations caused the company to provide corrected information, according to NewStreet. A former FCC official who now works with rural electric co-ops entering the broadband market, published a blog alleging that Starlink (as well as T-Mobile) provided inaccurate information to the agency.
“We think it likely that all the major ISPs will have some discrepancies,” writes Levin. “Part of that is due to the inherent problems of mapping. Part of it relates to terms relating to coverage that can be understood in different ways.”
The Commission will have a problem when it comes to determining penalties, Levin believes. “There would be a problem with the political optics of fining an ISP a small amount while the ISP is receiving a large amount to deploy a network based on a map for which the ISP provided bad information. Of course, the FCC could solve that problem by working with NTIA to require states from awarding grants to ISPs that materially misrepresented mapping information,” notes Levin. While NewStreet thinks that’s a possibility, it would diminish the competitive intensity for the grants and end up costing the BEAD program more.
What’s the bottom line? “While we don’t know precisely what the FCC will regard as material, we think the FCC will only care if the misrepresentation could result in misallocations of funds in the millions of dollars,” writes the policy expert.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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