Balderson, 25 Republicans seek challenge extension for draft National Broadband Map

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) should extend the challenge period for the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) draft of the National Broadband Map, according to U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH) and 25 of his GOP colleagues.

The FCC’s pre-production draft of the map released on Nov. 18, 2022, shows fixed and mobile broadband availability data submitted by internet service providers through the commission’s Broadband Data Collection. The FCC simultaneously that day started an eight-week process whereby consumers, state, local, and tribal governments, service providers, and other entities could begin to file challenges and corrections to the fixed and mobile broadband availability data shown on the map.

Rep. Balderson and his colleagues don’t think the eight-week challenge process, which ended on Jan. 13, offered their constituents enough time to submit their information.

“The short period of time the NTIA has given to challenge the FCC’s broadband maps is not sufficient for my constituents to collect data and submit proper challenges,” Rep. Balderson said in a Jan. 13 statement. “All Americans deserve to be connected; that is why I am calling on the NTIA to extend this challenge period. We owe it to our constituents to get this right.”

Rep. Balderson and the lawmakers, who included U.S. Reps. John Joyce (R-PA), Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Bill Johnson (R-OH), and John Moolenaar (R-MI), reiterated that stance in a Jan. 12 letter sent to Alan Davidson, assistant secretary for communications and information at the NTIA in the U.S. Commerce Department.

“We write to express our concern with the length of the challenge period for the FCC draft National Broadband Map and the impact it will have on the NTIA’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program,” they wrote, noting that the amount of BEAD funding that each state receives is dependent on the accuracy of the map.

And according to their letter, the eight-week challenge period has already caused “serious problems” for their constituents and stakeholders. Several other states have raised similar concerns, they wrote.

“Providing enough time for the challenge process is especially important given that we already know that many rural communities are missing from the map, many of which lack the resources or ability to file expedient challenges without additional technical assistance or guidance,” wrote Rep. Balderson and his colleagues. 

Without an extension, they wrote, the final map could be inaccurate, perpetuate existing coverage gaps, and result in a disproportionate distribution of necessary resources away from those communities that need the most assistance.

“Simply stated, a poorly developed final map will undermine the success and potential of the BEAD program,” wrote the legislators.