National Broadband Map Criticized as ‘Grossly’ Underinclusive, Overinclusive

Cable companies say the map undercounts areas that they serve. The American Cable Association filed a document of almost 200 pages listing areas it said the NBM had misidentified as unserved (http://xrl.us/bn98zy). Filled with tables, charts, maps and aerial images, the filing provides statements from several cable executives attesting to the availability of broadband where the map says there’s none. In some cases, companies said they offered speeds up to 100 Mbps downstream via cable or fiber-to-the-home, where the map said speeds of more than 3 Mbps couldn’t be found. Boycom Cablevision in Missouri cautioned that if the FCC subsidizes Windstream or another ILEC, it would be “detrimental” to Boycom’s ongoing business, with a broadband buildout it had funded entirely through private means. The Cinnamon Mueller law firm encouraged its cable clients to tell the FCC about NBM inaccuracies in order to “prevent being overbuilt” by CAF money (http://xrl.us/bn99d6).

A consultant hired by Comcast found that over 15,000 census blocks identified as unserved actually receive broadband from the company (http://xrl.us/bn986n). Comcast said it expects the updated version of the NBM, which reflects mid-2012 data, will correct the mistake. Until then, Comcast submitted its list on a confidential basis. Mediacom provided a 50-page list of census blocks listed as unserved, but which have at least one Mediacom customer receiving “well in excess” of the 3 Mbps download/768 Kbps upload standard (http://xrl.us/bn985s). The Wireline Bureau’s database, based on the NBM, understates coverage in 1,439 census blocks in Mississippi and Indiana, Mediacom said. A Mississippi Public Service Commission member told us the map is “totally messed up” and could set the state back years in lost funding (CD Jan 10 p5).

Several fixed WISPs and smaller cable companies filed comments to correct inaccuracies. SPITwSPOTS in Alaska submitted maps of Alaska where it provides wireless service it said wasn’t counted (http://xrl.us/bn99hf). Q-Wireless in Kentucky submitted data (http://xrl.us/bn99hh), as did Myakka Communications in Florida (http://xrl.us/bn99hs) and Montana Internet Corp. (http://xrl.us/bn99hy). Midcontinent Communications, a cable company serving Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, listed several dozen blocks it said it either fully or partially covers at the proper speed (http://xrl.us/bn99hy). Service Electric Cablevision in Pennsylvania listed seven blocks (http://xrl.us/bn99gz).

Price-cap carriers say the map overstates broadband coverage, not understates it as rivals say. By using the NBM’s 3 Mbps/768 Kbps listings as a proxy for the 4 Mbps/1 Mbps targets in the Connect America Fund order, the FCC is potentially excluding areas that don’t meet the targeted speeds, USTelecom said (http://xrl.us/bn985f). The association estimated that more than 1 million housing units fall into this group. In the absence of 4/1 data, the commission should use more readily available 6/1.5 data, USTelecom said. The commission must also adjust for the “potential overstatement of broadband coverage by unsubsidized providers such as cable companies and WISPs,” USTelecom said. The association said Mississippi was the “most egregious example of the overstatement of service.” June 2011 data published in the February NBM showed 41 percent of rural Mississippi with access to cable modem service, while December 2011 data showed that percentage “skyrocketed to over 91 percent,” USTelecom said. It said that puts the state on par with Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Where the NBM shows areas served by WISPs, coverage should be “independently verified” before such areas are considered ineligible for Phase I funding, USTelecom said. WISP capacity caps and service quality issues -- “including unpredictable degradation from third-party interference” from cordless phones and garage door openers -- make reported WISP coverage unreliable, USTelecom said. The association also questioned the lack of specificity about “what it means to be ’served,’ beyond the simplistic speed definition.” The commission should take into account not just speed, but also latency and capacity requirements, the association said.

NTCA, NECA, OPASTCO and the Western Telecommunications Alliance cautioned against relying on the NBM to determine USF eligibility or support levels (http://xrl.us/bn9878). “Universal service, being a mandate of federal law, should not and cannot be placed at risk through reliance on unreliable data sets and methodologies that are still very much in ‘beta mode,'” the associations said jointly. Only after thorough review, recalibration and “vigorous” procedural safeguards should the map be used to modify USF support, they said. The map overstates coverage by showing an entire census block to be served by certain speeds when “lesser speeds predominate,” and understates coverage due to faulty reporting or other software or mapping inaccuracies, the associations said. Although “encouraging” that the bureau is seeking comment on its accuracy, “this limited comment process is inadequate to ferret out and resolve all of the structural and data shortcomings that linger within the map,” they said. Map errors are compounded by the thousands of “potentially unserved” census blocks incorrectly labeled as being in RLEC, price-cap territories or “unclassified” territories, they said.

ITTA also criticized the FCC’s commenting process as unable to achieve its “laudable” goal of fixing inaccuracies (http://xrl.us/bn99ar). Telcos were given “woefully inadequate” time to review the list of unserved census blocks -- “barely one month (including holiday),” ITTA said. The deadline was “arbitrary and imprudent” because comments on the “challenge process” proposed in the further notice aren’t due until three weeks after the data submission deadline, ITTA said. ITTA proposed a “challenge process” to identify locations that are overstated or understated on the most recent NBM, which could occur after price cap carriers identify the areas where they want to use Phase I support.

CenturyLink said it identified about 195,000 census blocks that should be added to the eligibility list for Phase I support, including almost 13,000 blocks that are “completely unserved” but don’t appear on the list (http://xrl.us/bn99ee). CenturyLink sought adoption of a “standardized dispute-resolution process” to address map inaccuracies. “Waiver petitions and semi-annual update proceedings” are impractical tools to resolve errors, it said. The telco took issue with the 3/768 reporting being used as a proxy for its actual 4/1 standard. Windstream called the NBM-informed list of completely or partially unserved census blocks “grossly underinclusive of the areas that should be eligible for CAF Phase I support” (http://xrl.us/bn982x). It excludes many census blocks that cannot meet the 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream targets “without expensive network upgrades,” Windstream said.

Windstream asked that ILECs be able to add to the list of eligible areas locations where the ILEC has received no requests for ports with broadband over a reasonable historical period. That could help with the overinclusive nature of the map, where it shows an unsubsidized competitor where there is none, Windstream said. By cross-referencing records of customer churn and number porting with a list of blocks that don’t have 4/1 service from Windstream but are shown as being served by an unsubsidized competitor, the company said that is “strong evidence” that no such competitor exists. The burden should then shift to the competitive provider to prove it’s providing the requisite speeds, Windstream said.