To support California stakeholders interested in the Federal
Communication Commission’s (FCC) broadband mapping challenge
process, the California Public Utilities Commission and the
California Department of Technology are hosting an informational
webinar on Friday, December 2, 2022, at 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm.
Counties and other interested stakeholders can register
here.
Last month, the FCC released its pre-production draft of its
broadband maps.
These maps identify broadband availability across California’s
counties and the nation. The updated maps integrate information
from broadband providers to provide precise data on broadband
availability.
Local governments, consumers, service provides, and other
entities can submit challenges to the broadband data to improve
the maps. The National Telecommunications Information
Administration is required to allocate Broadband Equity, Access,
and Deployment (BEAD) funds according to a formula resulting from
the map data. Counties are encouraged to submit challenges by
January 13, 2023, for corrections to be
incorporated into the final version of the map that will be used
to allocate BEAD program funding by June 30, 2023.
The FCC has released two videos to assist with fixed availability
challenges. The first video provides an overview of the fixed
bulk availability challenge process and can be accessed
here. The second walks filers through the process of
submitting bulk fixed availability challenge data in the
Broadband Data Collection system, which is available
here.
