FCC Releases Information On Filing Bulk Challenges To Broadband Serviceable Location Data In The BDC Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric

July 1, 2022 – The FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force has released “Data Specifications for Bulk Fabric Challenge Data, which sets forth the requirements for filing bulk challenges to broadband serviceable location (BSL) data in the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric (Fabric).” Broadband providers, governmental entities, and interested parties can access the Bulk Fabric Data Specification online at: https://us-fcc.box.com/v/bdc-bulk-fabric-challenge-spec.

The Fabric is a common dataset of all locations (business or residential) in the U.S. where fixed mass-market broadband internet access service can be installed, and is the foundation for the data collected and maps to be created by the Broadband Data Collection (BDC). On June 23, 2022, the FCC released the production version of the Fabric to BDC filers and state, local and Tribal government entities. The BDC filing window opened on June 30, 2022 and closes on September 1, 2022.

There will be a challenge process for the Fabric, but the FCC has not set a date for the filing window. Broadband providers, governmental entities, and other stakeholders will be allowed to submit challenges and proposed corrections to location data in the Fabric. Entities may file multiple challenges at the same time, but these “bulk” challenges must conform to the Data Specifications for Bulk Fabric Challenge Data.

In the Public Notice, the Broadband Data Task Force also addresses “additional characteristics of BSLs for purposes of the Fabric so that challengers will be able to align their data with the Fabric to determine when BSLs may be missing or mischaracterized.” This information is separated into three topics: (1) residential parcels; (2) non- residential parcels; and (3) differentiating between mass-market broadband locations and non-mass market broadband locations. Among other things, the information helps clarify how the Fabric treats a single parcel of land that contains multiple structures, multiple housing units, or multiple businesses.

FCC Form 477 Data As Of June 30, 2022 Must Be Filed No Later Than September 1, 2022

July 1, 2022 – The FCC’s Office of Economics and Analytics has issued a Public Notice to notify facilities-based broadband providers that the filing deadline for FCC Form 477 data as of June 30, 2022 is September 1, 2022. The FCC’s Form 477 filing interface is no accepting data and is available online at https://apps2.fcc.gov/form477/login.xhtml. The FCC Form 477 filing requirement is separate and apart from the new Broadband Data Collection filing requirement. Additional information about which broadband providers must file Form 477 and the data that must be included is available at https://www.fcc.gov/BroadbandData/filers.

FCC Chairwoman Gives Update On FCC Broadband Mapping Efforts

July 1, 2022 – FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has released a blog post titled Status Update: Mapping Where Broadband Is—and Is Not—Available in the U.S., which provides an update on the FCC’s broadband mapping efforts. It contains the following key information:

• Today [June 30, 2022], we opened our new system to collect information from over 2,500 broadband providers on precisely where they provide broadband services. Why it matters: This marks the beginning of our window to collect location-by-location data from providers that we will use to build the map.

• We’ve built the framework for a common dataset of locations in the United States where fixed broadband service can be installed. Why it matters: This new location dataset, called the “Fabric,” will serve as the foundation upon which all fixed broadband availability data will be reported and overlaid in our new broadband availability maps.

• We’ve established consistent parameters that require broadband providers to submit data on availability using individually geocoded locations. Why it matters: Geocoded data will allow us to create a highly precise picture of fixed broadband deployment, unlike previous data collections, which focused on census blocks, giving us inaccurate, incomplete maps.

• The FCC has launched a new online help center, with dedicated staff providing technical assistance, online video tutorials and webinars explaining the data submission process, and resources for consumers, internet service providers, states, localities, and Tribes seeking assistance with submissions. Why it matters: Our broadband maps are only as good as the data we collect, and this support will help make sure the Commission gets the data we need, the way we need it.

• Our maps are built to improve. We are making the maps accessible to challenges by states, Tribal and local entities, and consumers. Why it matters: Earlier broadband maps relied exclusively on data collected from broadband providers, leaving key stakeholders without an easy mechanism to challenge and improve maps that were missing data or mischaracterized broadband coverage. The best map is one that improves over time with everyone’s experiences baked in.

• Bottom Line: For too long, our broadband maps have been a patchwork with information gaps that impeded the ability of policymakers to assure that critical funding efforts could be precisely targeted to deploying broadband facilities to consumers and communities most in need. The new Broadband Data Collection will tie together data from multiple sources to give us an accurate, detailed, and evolving picture of broadband availability that is much needed and long overdue.

FCC Broadband Data Collection Filing System Now Open

June 30, 2022 – The FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force has officially announced the opening of the inaugural Broadband Data Collection (BDC) filing window. Facilities-based broadband service providers may file deployment data in the BDC system showing where they make mass market broadband internet access service available as of June 30, 2022. The filing window closes September 1, 2022. The BDC system is available online at https://bdc.fcc.gov/bdc. Information on how to log in, navigate the BDC system, and submit data is available online from the BDC Help Center at https://www.fcc.gov/BroadbandData/Help.

Additionally, the Broadband Data Task Force has noted that broadband providers must file broadband and voice availability and subscribership data as of June 30, 2022, in both the BDC system and the FCC Form 477 filing interface.

FCC Announces Production Version Of The Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric Is Now Available

June 23, 2022 – The FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force has announced that the production version of the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric that will be used for the FCC’s upcoming Broadband Data Collection (BDC) is now available for broadband service providers and governmental entities. The Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric is a common dataset of all locations in the U.S. where fixed broadband internet access service can be installed, and is the foundation for the data collected and maps created by the BDC. There will be a process to challenge the Fabric, but the timing and procedures will be announced in a future FCC notice. Fixed broadband service providers that accessed the preliminary Fabric may access the production Fabric data files for their relevant geographic areas via a link that will be emailed to them by the Fabric contractor, CostQuest. Those Fixed broadband service providers that did not access the preliminary Fabric will have to contact CostQuest via email at nbfsupport@costquest.com to request access to the production Fabric. The email must include the name and email of the provider’s contact person, the provider’s name, and the provider’s FCC Registration Number (FRN). CostQuest will provide instructions on accessing the production Fabric, following broadband providers’ execution of a license agreement with CostQuest. Additional information about accessing the production version of the Fabric is available from the FCC’s Public Notice.

Broadband Providers May Now Access The Broadband Data Collection System To Enter Identifying Entity Information

June 23, 2022 – The FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force has announced that fixed and mobile broadband providers and other filers of broadband deployment data may obtain early access to certain portions of the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) system for the purpose of entering identifying entity information in advance of the June 30, 2022 opening of the BDC filing window. In addition to logging in and registering their entities in the system, BDC filers will be able to become familiar with how certain parts of the system will work. The BDC system is accessible at https://bdc.fcc.gov/. Additional information on how to log in, navigate the BDC system, and submit data is available from the detailed BDC System User Guide and related video tutorials, which are accessible online at the BDC Help Center.

FCC Launches New Broadband Data Collection Help Center

May 31, 2022 – The FCC has announced the launch of an online help center and other new resources and video tutorials to assist broadband internet access service providers with preparation of their Broadband Data Collection (BDC) filings. The BDC help center is available at https://help.bdc.fcc.gov/hc/en-us. The new video tutorials explain the information and supporting data that filers must submit to the new BDC system. The help center tools and video tutorials can be accessed from the FCC’s BDC webpage at www.fcc.gov/BroadbandData.

The FCC will begin accepting broadband availability data filed pursuant to the FCC’s new BDC rules and procedures on June 30, 2022. All facilities-based providers of fixed and mobile broadband Internet access service must submit broadband availability data as of June 30, 2022, to the BDC online filing system no later than September 1, 2022.

FCC Seeks Comment On Petition For Declaratory Ruling On Requirement That A Professional Engineer Must Certify Broadband Data Collection Maps

May 17, 2022 – The FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force is seeking comment on a Petition for Declaratory Ruling or Limited Waiver filed by the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) concerning the FCC’s upcoming Broadband Data Collection (BDC) filings. Pursuant to the FCC’s BDC rules, fixed and mobile broadband providers must include a certification of the accuracy of their submissions by a qualified engineer. In its petition, CCA requests that the FCC issue a declaratory ruling to clarify that BDC filings “may be certified by a qualified professional engineer or an otherwise-qualified engineer that is not a licensed professional engineer accredited by a state licensure board.” In the alternative, CCA requests “a limited waiver of the requirement that BDC data be certified by a licensed professional engineer, and instead allow mobile providers to certify their data with an RF engineering professional with specified qualifications that are directly relevant to broadband availability assessment.” Comments on the petition, with respect to the rule’s impact on both fixed and mobile broadband service providers, are due on or before June 8, 2022. Reply Comments are due June 15, 2022.

FCC Announces Release Of Preliminary Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric – Now Available To Fixed Broadband Service Providers

April 14, 2022 – The FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force has announced that a preliminary version of the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric is now available. Fixed broadband service providers only can access the preliminary version of the Fabric to begin preparing for their broadband availability data submissions under the FCC’s new Broadband Data Collection (BDC). The Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric is a common dataset of all locations in the U.S. where fixed broadband internet access service can be installed, and is a key component of the BDC.

Access to the preliminary Fabric, however, is available for those fixed broadband service providers that have made FCC Form 477 filings in the past. They must execute a license agreement with the Fabric’s creator, CostQuest, in order to access the data. According to the Public Notice, CostQuest will contact, via email, “the certifying individual of each June 2021 Form 477 filing with fixed broadband deployment, requesting that the recipient visit CostQuest’s user support help desk to (1) create user credentials, (2) submit a license request form, and (3) execute the licensing agreement.”

In February 2022, the FCC announced it will accept BDC broadband availability data from facilities-based providers of fixed and mobile broadband Internet access service beginning June 30, 2022, to September 1, 2022. Submissions must show a provider’s broadband availability data as of June 30, 2022.

In the Public Notice announcing the preliminary Fabric, the Broadband Data Task Force also provides further details on the Fabric and information on how fixed broadband providers should prepare their BDC filings, including the following:

(1) information for providers of fixed broadband service on how to access the preliminary Fabric;

(2) identification of data sources used in, and elements of, the Fabric;

(3) confirmation that the Fabric will identify broadband serviceable locations using a unique, FCC-issued identifier (Location ID), a set of latitude/longitude coordinates within the boundaries of each structure, and, where feasible, a street address; and

(4) confirmation that fixed broadband providers that do not use availability polygons must submit their broadband availability data using the unique Location IDs in the Fabric.

Broadband Data Collection: FCC Issues Guidance For State, Local, And Tribal Governmental Entities Submitting Verified Broadband Availability Data

April 14, 2022 – The FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force has released details on the procedures for state, local, and Tribal governmental entities to submit verified broadband availability data through the FCC’s Broadband Data Collection (BDC) system. Specifically, the Public Notice provides the following further details:

(1) the system and process the FCC will use to authenticate entities purporting to file on behalf of state, local, or Tribal governmental entities; and

(2) the procedures for identifying state, local, and Tribal governmental entities with primary responsibility for mapping or tracking broadband internet access service coverage within their jurisdictions.

As part of the new BDC, the FCC will collect verified data for use in the new BDC broadband availability maps from State, local, and Tribal governmental entities that are primarily responsible for mapping or tracking broadband internet access service coverage in their respective areas. In the Digital Opportunity Data Collection Second Report and Order, the FCC stated it “will treat data verified by the governmental entity that is primarily responsible for mapping or tracking coverage as primary availability data for use in the coverage maps on par with the availability data submitted by providers in their biannual BDC filings, and later described how coverage data from governmental entities will be considered “verified” when they bear certain indicia of credibility.

The FC will accept broadband availability data from facilities-based providers of fixed and mobile broadband Internet access service beginning June 30, 2022, to September 1, 2022. These BDC submissions must show a provider’s broadband availability data as of June 30, 2022. The Public Notice guidance is intended to give state, local, and Tribal governmental entities that intend to submit verified broadband availability data enough time to prepare prior to the June 30, 2022 opening of the BDC filing window.

Broadband Data Collection: FCC Issues Guidance For Mobile Speed Test Applications

April 14, 2022 – The FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force and Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) have announced procedures for submitting proposals for mobile speed test applications that will be used in collecting and submitting mobile broadband network performance data as part of the FCC’s Broadband Data Collection (BDC). Specific technical guidance regarding how third-party app developers may present supporting information and other documentation as part of their proposals is included in Appendix A to the Public Notice and OET Bulletin 75, Broadband Data Collection Program: Third-Party Speed Test Mobile Application Approval Process Guidance.

Third-party mobile speed test applications will be used for the collection and submission of mobile broadband challenge data, and also could eventually be used to collect crowdsourced broadband availability data. While mobile speed test application data will be used to ensure consumers’ challenge data meet necessary reporting requirements, crowdsourced data would be used to “identify individual instances or patterns of potentially inaccurate or incomplete deployment or availability data that warrant further investigation or review.”

Third-party app developers seeking OET approval must submit a separate proposal for iOS and Android operating systems. Developers may begin submitting their proposals to OET for review and approval. OET has stated it “will endeavor to complete its review of proposals received on or before June 9, 2022 in advance of the FCC’s publication of the initial versions of the broadband availability maps required under the Broadband DATA Act.”

FCC Releases Data Specification Guidance For The Upcoming Broadband Data Collection

March 4, 2022 – The FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force and Office of Economics and Analytics have published data specifications for the FCC’s new Broadband Data Collection (BDC). The information provides guidance for fixed and mobile broadband providers on how to prepare and format subscription, availability, and other broadband deployment data for submission into the FCC’s BDC system.

In February 2022, the FCC announced it will begin accepting broadband availability data filed pursuant to the new BDC rules and procedures on June 30, 2022. All facilities-based providers of fixed and mobile broadband Internet access service must submit broadband availability data as of June 30, 2022, to the BDC online filing system no later than September 1, 2022. The FCC’s new BDC program is an improved effort to collect geospatial broadband deployment data from broadband providers, as well as crowdsourced data to challenge the accuracy of the submitted data. Additional information on the BDC data specifications are available on the FCC’s BDC website

GAO Denies LightBox Challenge Of FCC Broadband Mapping Fabric Contract Award

March 1, 2022 – The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied a bid protest filed by LightBox Parent, LP challenging the FCC’s decision to award a $44.9 million contract to CostQuest Associates Inc. to create a Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric. After LightBox filed its challenge, the FCC was required to halt its work on the Fabric and give the GAO 100 days to issue a decision on the protest. Now that GAO has issued a denial, the FCC can restart its work with CostQuest on the further development and implementation of the Fabric.

The FCC released a Request for Proposals (RFP) to create the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric on June 1, 2021, with responses due July 1, 2021. However, a pre-award protest was filed with Government Accountability Office following the RFP response deadline, which forced the FCC to issue a revised RFP on August 13, 2021. Revised proposals were due August 26, 2021. The $44.9 million contract to develop the Fabric was then ultimately awarded on November 9, 2021, to CostQuest. LightBox, who also submitted a proposal in response to the Fabric RFP, filed its bid protest challenging the FCC’s decision pursuant to the Federal Acquisition Regulation process on November 29, 2021.

The “Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric” will be a common dataset of all locations in the U.S. where fixed broadband internet access service can be installed, and is a key component of the FCC’s new Broadband Data Collection program. Broadband service providers will provide the FCC with granular and detailed coverage data which will be layered on top of the Fabric, thereby giving the FCC an accurate picture of broadband coverage in the U.S. and creating a more accurate national broadband map.

The FCC recently announced that it will begin accepting broadband availability data filed pursuant to the FCC’s new Broadband Data Collection (BDC) rules and procedures on June 30, 2022. All facilities-based providers of fixed and mobile broadband Internet access service must submit broadband availability data as of June 30, 2022, to the BDC online filing system no later than September 1, 2022.

Broadband Data Collection – FCC To Start Accepting Filings On June 30, 2022 – Submissions Due No Later Than September 1, 2022

February 22, 2022 – The FCC has announced that it will begin accepting broadband availability data filed pursuant to the FCC’s new Broadband Data Collection (BDC) rules and procedures on June 30, 2022. All facilities-based providers of fixed and mobile broadband Internet access service must submit broadband availability data as of June 30, 2022, to the BDC online filing system no later than September 1, 2022. The FCC’s new BDC program is an improved effort to collect geospatial broadband deployment data from broadband providers, as well as crowdsourced data to challenge the accuracy of the submitted data. Broadband providers will submit granular coverage maps (polygons) showing the locations where they currently provide broadband service or could provide service within 10 business days of receiving a request for service. Data will include service to residential and business locations, speed, and latency. This deployment data must conform to FCC-adopted “buffer” distances – specific network facility distances from aggregation points based on the type of technology used. Data submissions must eventually conform to the forthcoming Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric, which is a common dataset that defines all locations that need and can receive broadband service in the U.S. Broadband providers must have a corporate officer and qualified engineer certify the accuracy of their submitted data. In a future Public Notice, the FCC will provide additional information for filers, including data specifications on how to prepare their data for submission in the BDC system.