RWA Questions FCC Broadband Maps
Rural Wireless Association staff and members raised concerns on the FCC’s broadband data collection maps and challenge process with staff at the FCC Wireless Bureau, Office of Economics and Analytics and Broadband Data Task Force, said a filing posted Tuesday…
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in docket 19-195. “RWA members expressed frustration with the maps of reported 5/1 Mbps 4G coverage (based on both in vehicle and outdoor measurements) as coverage seems to be overstated by nationwide carriers in many rural areas, similar to the overstated coverage submitted by these same carriers in the Mobility Fund Phase II maps,” RWA said: “Nationwide carriers continue to overstate their coverage because they do not want to expose themselves to a Federal Trade Commission investigation for false advertising by admitting via their BDC maps filed with the FCC that they have less coverage than they have historically claimed in their consumer marketing maps.” The big carriers “serve mostly along highways and in county seats, and utilize far fewer cell sites than rural carriers in the same area,” the group said. Companies involved included Nsight, NTCH Cleartalk, PTCI, Widelity and Strata Networks.