FCC Urges Broadband Providers to Enter Availability Data Into Database

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The FCC is encouraging broadband providers to enter location data into its preliminary broadband “location fabric,” which is a database of broadband serviceable locations. It’s a milestone on the road to creating more accurate broadband availability maps. Those are necessary so that NTIA can distribute more than $42 billion in broadband infrastructure grants.

 The Commission wants providers to have processes in place to correctly input broadband availability data into the preliminary location database. The commission notes that providers will need to re-input data when the final version of the database is available, according to Telecompetitor.  

All broadband providers will be required to submit location data about areas where they offer service into the final location database by September 1. The final location fabric is scheduled to be ready to accept data beginning June 30, and may include additional inputs and features not included in the preliminary version, the FCC noted late Thursday.

“Filing broadband availability data … is a new process, so we expect that it will take providers some time to work through their methodology for aligning their internal served location data with the database,” the FCC cautioned. “While we understand that fixed providers cannot produce their broadband availability data as of June 30, prior to that date, establishing and testing a methodology and processes to create such data will take time and resources and can be started now.”

The agency warned providers that “any requests for waivers or extensions of the filing deadline will ‘face a high hurdle even at the starting gate’ and that a failure to timely file required data in the . . . system may lead to enforcement action and/or penalties as set forth in the Communications Act and other applicable laws absent circumstances beyond a filer’s control.”

The broadband serviceable “location fabric” or database is designed to include the location of every home and business in the U.S. that has or could have broadband available to it. The fabric includes a unique identifier, as well as street address and latitude/ longitude for each location, according to Telecompetitor.

Providers have the option of submitting broadband availability information as shapefiles, also known as polygons, showing the borders within which the company offers service. Alternatively, providers can submit a list of locations that have service available, but the list must use the unique identifier for each location created in the location database, and those identifiers may change in the final version.

To gain access to the preliminary location database, providers will need to sign a license agreement with CostQuest, the company that’s creating the location database. CostQuest will send an email explaining how to do this to the certifying individual for each June 2021 Form 477 filing with fixed broadband deployment, the FCC said.

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