Wicker, Moran succeed in convincing FCC to extend broadband eligibility map process

With more than $4.5 billion in federal support becoming available for state, local and tribal governments around the United States to expand rural wireless broadband over the next 10 years, the nationwide map depicting the correct eligible areas is vitally important, say U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Jerry Moran (R-KS).

In separate statements released May 31, the lawmakers commended Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai for supporting a 90-day extension to the challenge process for the map of eligible areas seeking Mobility Fund Phase II support. The map will help determine where portions of the billion-dollar pot get dispersed.

“Reliable access to broadband is important to growing a business, strengthening a community or bringing an idea to market for Kansans, which is why it is imperative that the eligibility map for Mobility Fund Phase II support accurately reflects the areas in most need of these mobile services,” said Sen. Moran, a member of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee.

“We must make certain we are prioritizing broadband expansion to rural and unserved areas based off of reliable mapping information,” he added in a May 31 statement.

Sen. Wicker, chairman of the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet, agreed that “with so much at stake, it is important for us to get this map right so that the millions of rural Americans who currently lack broadband service will be first in line to receive support through the Mobility Fund program.”

FCC Chairman Pai also agreed “that the agency should be exercising its discretion to ensure that the challenge process is as robust as possible,” according to identical May 30 letters he sent to the senators. “Accordingly, I support extending the challenge process window by 90 days and have directed the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force to figure out the procedural steps necessary to do just that.”

Pai wrote that by extending the time period to allow more submissions, “challengers will have an opportunity to conduct additional tests, which in turn means a more accurate map for carrying out the Mobility Fund Phase II auction.”

The FCC’s 90-day extension announcement came in response to a bipartisan bill and May 30 letter led by Sens. Wicker and Moran, along with U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), regarding the current map. The lawmakers wrote Pai they were concerned the map, although “intended to reflect areas that lack unsubsidized mobile 4G LTE service,” fell short in accurately describing the areas in need of universal service support.

“Unfortunately, the FCC’s coverage maps, which are used to prioritize broadband expansion efforts, are inaccurate for New Hampshire, and many rural areas,” Sen. Hassan said when she and Sen. Moran cosponsored the Mobile Accuracy and Precision (MAP) Broadband Act of 2018, S. 2955, introduced on May 24 by Sen. Wicker.

S. 2955 would reform the FCC’s Mobility Fund Phase II process and, among other provisions, extend the challenge process until Nov. 27, 2018, according to the draft text in the congressional record. S. 2955 has been referred to the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee for consideration.

“Like you,” Pai wrote in his responses to the senators last week, “the Commission is focused on ensuring that our limited universal service funds are effectively and accurately targeted to areas that lack unsubsidized 4G LTE service. This is a vital part of our strategy toward closing the wireless dimension of the digital divide.”

Additionally, the FCC has scheduled a presentation on June 6 regarding the Mobility Fund Challenge II process at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum in Jackson.