35 Years And $400 Million Later, The FCC Says It Finally Has Accurate Broadband Maps. Maybe.
Runaway1956 writes:
We've noted for decades how, despite all the political lip service paid toward "bridging the digital divide," the U.S. doesn't actually have any idea where broadband is or isn't available. The FCC's past broadband maps, which cost $350 million to develop, have long been accused of all but hallucinating competitors, making up available speeds, and excluding a key metric of competitiveness: price.
You only need to spend a few minutes plugging your address into the FCC's old map to notice how the agency comically overstates broadband competition and available speeds. After being mandated by Congress in 2020 by the Broadband DATA Act, the FCC struck a new, $44 million contract with a company named Costquest to develop a new map, just unveiled for the first time.
According to the FCC, this new map is the first step in a long process to accurately identify where broadband is (or isn't), kind of important for people making broad policy decisions:
"Our pre-production draft maps are a first step in a long-term effort to continuously improve our data as consumers, providers and others share information with us," FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. "By painting a more accurate picture of where broadband is and is not, local, state, and federal partners can better work together to ensure no one is left on the wrong side of the digital divide."
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