Updating the FCC’s broadband coverage maps is a priority for Acting FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. During her first meeting in her new role, she had the agency create a task force to work on the project last month.
The team will coordinate and expedite the design and construction of new systems for collecting and verifying data to carry out the law and more accurately measure and reflect the FCC’s broadband needs, according to Rosenworcel in an update on the project Tuesday. “When I assumed office, one of the first things I did was assess the status of this effort. What I learned was that we had a lot of work to do and hadn’t yet begun many of the steps required to actually build a collection system,” she said.
The Commission procured an expert data architect and design firm to work with the Commission’s own data and IT systems specialists. These experts will design a complex web of databases, systems and public-facing portals that can support the new Broadband Data Collection data and the several public-facing maps the agency will generate. The agency also issued a Request for Information to jump start the contracting process for the creation of the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric, a common dataset of all locations in the United States where fixed broadband internet access service can be installed.
What’s next? In the coming days, the Commission plans to launch a new tool for consumers and others interested in learning more about the mapping efforts. It will allow consumers to share their experiences with the task force to let them know when broadband has (and has not) reached where they live. Rosenworcel explains: “Opening communication with consumers early in this process is so important because the best broadband map won’t be built in Washington, it will be built by all of us, with input from everyone, everywhere.”
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