Alaska Presses FCC on Missing Locations in Broadband Fabric

The FCC recognizes “the unique challenges Alaska presents for the [broadband data collection] and we are committed to working with providers and other Alaska officials to make sure the Fabric and the map accurately reflect the facts on the ground,” emailed an agency spokesperson. Meanwhile, the agency and CostQuest “are working hard with carriers and states to ensure they have access” to the fabric, the spokesperson said. “For a handful of states, technical state law issues have impacted the ability of those states to access the Fabric. We are working with these states to enable full participation.”

Parts of Alaska are missing from the broadband fabric because CostQuest based information on state property tax records, said Tyson Gallagher, acting chief of staff for Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R), in an interview Friday. He said much of the state's population in areas eligible for IIJA funding don’t have property tax records. The governor’s office has thought it could be a problem since the IIJA passed, said Gallagher: The law didn’t specify using property tax records but directed the FCC to use a contractor. When Alaska staff met with CostQuest, the contractor said “we have this timeline that we’ve got to get this information because the FCC’s got to open up a portal for providers to go in and say what they serve, and so we’re going to use property tax data,” he said.

The issue could affect how much funding the state can receive from the NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, said Gallagher, GCI’s government relations specialist 2016-2021. An Alaska broadband task force estimated the state could get $1.5 billion from BEAD, “so if we stand to lose a couple hundred million dollars because some portion of our eligible populations aren’t included, that would be a big concern and a big setback for us.”

Alaska is discussing the issue with the FCC, NTIA and CostQuest, said Gallagher. The state recently “had a series of meetings with the FCC to kind of open up the dialogue on this,” he said. “We recognize that the FCC’s got to stand up a program,” said Gallagher. “Our hope is that they’ll continue to talk with us and work through our issues.” NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson is in Alaska for a series of broadband events this week.

Alaska identified at least 69 places in the state where the fabric incorrectly shows zero housing or commercial units, said Lisa Von Bargen, project manager for Commissioner Julie Sande of Alaska's Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. The state found 68 communities where the fabric’s housing unit count was at least 50% lower than it was in the 2020 census and 98 communities with a count up to 25% lower than in the census, said Von Bargen.

GCI raised concerns about the apparent undercounting of locations in the fabric in a July meeting with FCC Wireline Bureau Chief Trent Harkrader, broadband data task force staff and aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. It noted "entire communities" were missing from the fabric and others had "far fewer fabric points than actual locations" (see 2207280033). GCI didn’t comment Monday. CostQuest began working on the fabric, which maps all buildable locations across the country, after the GAO partially dismissed and denied a protest of the company's FCC contract. The protester, LightBox, claimed CostQuest’s original bids had inconsistencies in data rights (see 2203110040).

“The problem that CostQuest faces is developing a database of all the buildings in the United States,” said Clay Purvis, telecom and connectivity director for the Vermont’s Department of Public Service. A national database doesn’t exist, said Purvis: CostQuest will have to use different data in each state, and not all of it may be available electronically.

FCC map accuracy is a big concern for Vermont, said Purvis. “We certainly do not want to lose funding because of inaccuracies in the database.” Rosenworcel assured the state in a recent meeting “that we’re going to have a robust opportunity to participate and make corrections,” he said. Purvis noted it’s “a monumental task that the FCC has taken on here, and having done mapping ourselves over the past eight years, we understand that it’s an iterative process and that it’s not going to be perfect on the first go-around.” Purvis expects the broadband fabric will use the same Vermont E-911 database that the state has relied upon, “but we do expect there to be additions or subtractions or other issues that may not reflect the true state of things.”

Vermont hadn’t reviewed the fabric due to an issue with the license agreement, Purvis told us Thursday. The form required the state to agree to keep confidential the contract’s terms and conditions, but that would conflict with the state’s public records law preventing secret contracts, he said. However, later that day, Purvis told us he had consulted with Colorado, which had a similar problem, and learned that CostQuest had provided a form meant for carriers. Vermont obtained the correct form for states, and Purvis said he believes it will resolve the issue.

The Colorado Broadband Office figured out how to access the fabric but hasn’t reviewed the data’s location accuracy, said Executive Director Brandy Reitter. Once it does, “we will review and determine areas that warrant challenges in the FCC Bulk Fabric Challenge process." The office “is in the process of procuring mapping services that will reflect location level data with real-time speed tests,” and expects to complete that by year-end, Reitter emailed: “This will help us work with the FCC so that we end up with the most accurate map … possible.”

"A national map of every broadband serviceable location was always going to be a challenge,” said broadband analyst Mike Conlow, former deputy chief technology officer with Obama for America: “Using census data as a reference and source of 'ground truth' might offer a neutral data set in challenges. The broadband fabric will have residential locations, and the census has residential housing units."