Relying on census block reporting for broadband availability is problematic, with 2011 census data for Missouri residential structures disagreeing with other census block data used for Connect America Fund modeling 64 percent of the time, USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter blogged. He said USTelecom's pilot broadband mapping effort in the state found more than 4,000 census blocks with 100 percent more structures than the 2011 census data, and more than 13,000 census blocks where the structure count was between 81 and 100 percent less than 2011 census data. The FCC's Aug. 1 vote on new broadband mapping data-collection methods (see 1907110071), along with the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Data) Act (S-1822), are progress toward more accurate broadband mapping, he said in a post the association emailed Friday. He said USTelecom still expects to deliver findings on its mapping pilot project to the FCC by month's end, as expected (see 1906200048). In a docket 11-10 posting Friday, Free Press urged "caution" on reforms to the Form 477 reporting process that could result in less understanding of the U.S. broadband market. It worried about the USTelecom pilot being used to eliminate or lessen public access to the underlying data sets. It said Form 477's heavily criticized deployment data shouldn't be confused with its capacity and adoption data. It said 477 deployment data is generally "highly accurate and very useful," though there needs to be better geographic granularity in rural areas and a less-vague definition of deployment. It said FCC mobile broadband deployment maps contain "an unacceptable level of overstated availability," which its fixed broadband deployment maps don't, due largely to the differences in determining where a mobile signal is available vs. where a wireline is located. The group said telecom companies might claim address-level deployment data is competitively sensitive, while finished maps aren't: Remember that companies have "a history of ... non-disclosure requests." The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said Friday the FCC should update Form 477 methodology specifically to ensure better measurement of broadband availability in underrepresented and marginalized communities where connectivity historically lagged. It said the form should include data on pricing, quality of service and actual speeds, race and other key demographics and usage and subscription rates.

The FCC will give relief to incumbent LECs, granting them forbearance from pricing regulation on lower-speed legacy transport and requirements to sell the transport as unbundled network elements (UNE) to competitive carriers that then use them in their business data services, voting unanimously at its meeting Wednesday on a petition from USTelecom (see 1905130050). The agency issued a draft order in late June in docket 18-141 (see 1906190044). The new order allows CLECs to continue to buy the UNE transport from ILECs for the next six months, and gives them three years (concurrently) to transition away from the transport networks or negotiate new business agreements with the ILECs.

Silicon Flatirons names Amie Stepanovich, from Access Now, executive director ... Tegna promotes Kari Jacobs to president-general manager of WTSP St. Petersburg, Florida ... USTelecom appoints Brandon Heiner, ex-CenturyLink, senior vice president-government affairs ... Intel names Claire Dixon, ex-VMware, corporate vice president-chief communications officer ... Liberty Media announces Chief Financial Officer Mark Carleton retires, becomes senior adviser; Controller Brian Wendling now also principal financial officer; General Counsel-Chief Legal Officer Rich Baer now also chief administrative officer; and Courtnee Chun, head-investor relations, now also chief portfolio officer.

USTelecom and member companies asked the FCC to reconsider a policy of Universal Service Administrative Co. that may require individual employees who interact with a national Lifeline accountability database to enroll new Lifeline subscribers or verify existing ones to provide personally identifiable information, said a filing posted Friday to docket 17-287. USTelecom, AT&T, CenturyLink, Consolidated, Frontier, Verizon and Windstream representatives met July 1 with officials from the Wireline Bureau, including Deputy Chief Trent Harkrader. USTelecom said its members are "well-known to the Commission, and the Commission can easily trace any individual representative back through the parent organization using simple business records like work email address and business phone number." Other industry groups expressed similar concerns (see 1906140022). Stakeholders worry the national verifier program isn't incorporating application programming interfaces quickly enough (see 1907050032).

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and other telecom-focused lawmakers are expected to move on legislation to improve FCC broadband coverage data collection process despite commissioners' planned Aug. 1 vote on a yet-to-be-released order on producing more-granular maps (see 1906120076). Officials and lobbyists believe further advancement of legislation like the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Data) Act (S-1822) could influence the direction in the pending order.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft order Tuesday to grant ILECs forbearance from requirements to provide competitive LECs access to analog voice-grade copper loops on an unbundled basis at regulated rates and to offer for resale at regulated rates services that ILECs sell at retail (see 1805040016). Word came shortly after staff OK'd USTelecom's request to narrow its petition, itself approved shortly after the association's filing was posted. Pai's proposal would provide a three-year transition period to give CLECs and customers time to get alternative voice services. The draft doesn't grant forbearance from regulatory obligations governing broadband networks. USTelecom withdrew its remaining request for forbearance related to broadband, posted Tuesday, when the agency granted that request for withdrawal with an order in docket 18-141 Tuesday. Incompas CEO Chip Pickering called the withdrawal "a victory for small, local builders who deploy the fiber future." Given "robust competition in the voice market, these two mandates from the 1990s, which were intended to open monopoly local phone companies to competition in voice services, are no longer necessary," an FCC spokesperson emailed Tuesday. "These regulations are now harmful because they perpetuate reliance on legacy technologies and services and hinder the transition to next-generation networks." Commissioners plan to vote at their July 10 meeting on elements of the 2018 USTelecom petition for forbearance from requirements to make unbundled network elements such as transport loops available to CLECs at nonmarket rates (see 1906190044). USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter praised that coming vote, blogging favorably on other actions aimed at eliminating "outdated regulations and reporting requirements." Unresolved pieces to the USTelecom petition face a statutory deadline of Aug. 2.

A polygon shapefile approach to submitting provider broadband data, endorsed by NCTA, and a location fabric proposal backed by USTelecom both add valuable data to inform updated national broadband maps from the FCC and aren't mutually exclusive, said cable and telco representatives. Congress asked the FCC to develop more-granular broadband maps to better pinpoint where service is available to consumers and at what speeds. The agency is expected to address the topic at its August meeting (see 1906200048).

Comcast wants the FCC to adopt a shapefile approach to updating its Form 477 data collection to inform future broadband maps backed by NCTA, it said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 11-10. "The submission of polygon shapefiles would significantly increase the accuracy of the reported data because polygon shapefiles are more closely tied to a provider's actual service area than census blocks," it said. Comcast executives told the FCC in a meeting last July that "a mapping approach based on polygons or service availability can be implemented more quickly than an address-based approach" (see 1807160061). USTelecom supports an address-based location fabric approach to broadband mapping (see 1903220036). Comcast said broadband maps based on polygon shapefiles could be "created in time to determine the areas eligible for the Rural Digital Opportunities Fund." The Competitive Carriers Association asked the FCC Thursday to re-evaluate Form 477 data collection requirements for wireless broadband coverage to standardize strength measurements, utilize a cell edge probability of 90 percent or higher, adopt a cell loading factor of at least 5 percent on the downlink, and ensure clutter factors match local environments, CCA said in a news release.

The telecom industry is eager to help mitigate national security threats stemming from equipment installed on its networks that could be compromised by vendors' ties to the Chinese government, executives said Thursday. Stakeholders wanted to reassure Commissioner Geoffrey Starks at an FCC workshop on his "find it, fix it, fund it" proposal to address vulnerabilities in communications networks (see 1906190050). But carriers, especially those with small, rural subscriber bases, said "rip-and-replace" missions for companies that have Huawei or ZTE equipment installed on their wireless, wireline or broadband networks would be neither quick nor inexpensive. Some estimates place the cost to remove and replace the compromised equipment at well over $1 billion.

USTelecom and member companies presented ideas on the format and timing of the Rural Digital Opportunities Fund, in a meeting with staff from the FCC Wireline Bureau and the Rural Broadband Auction Task Force, said a filing posted Tuesday to docket 19-126. Executives from AT&T, CenturyLink, Consolidated, Frontier, Verizon and Windstream attended. They shared estimates on unserved housing units in rural census blocks and the importance of better broadband maps. Industry wants the FCC to wait to implement a proposed $20 billion, 10-year broadband funding program until there's a new system to better report locations that have and lack access to broadband. Among the FCC officials present were Chelsea Fallon, director of the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force, and Sue McNeil, associate chief of the Wireline Bureau.