CHARLESTON — Both of West Virginia’s U.S. Senators praised an update released earlier this week to the Federal Communications Commission’s broadband maps, calling it another step to ensuring federal broadband funding reaches unserved and underserved parts of the state.
On Tuesday, the FCC announced an update to the National Broadband Map, adding an additional 1 million locations, including 330,000 new homes and businesses. The additions to the map now show more than 8.3 million addresses across the U.S. that have no or limited access to high-speed broadband internet.
“Today, the FCC is taking another step forward in its iterative effort to develop the best and most accurate broadband maps ever built in the United States. This is a big one,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a post on the FCC’s website Tuesday.
Tuesday’s National Broadband Map update is an improvement upon initial drafts of the map released last November. While previous maps used U.S. Census block data to determine the level of internet service across the country, the new maps drill down to more specific areas.
“For decades, the Commission produced broadband maps based on census blocks,” Rosenworcel said. “In practice, this meant that if there was high-speed internet service in a single location in a census block, the agency assumed there was service throughout the area. Needless to say, this methodology left a lot to be desired.”
“This new map was light years better than preceding maps because it no longer relied on census block-level reporting,” Rosenworcel said. “Instead, it identified every household and small business in the country that should have access to high-speed internet service.”
The updated map is based on more than 4 million challenges by citizens, businesses, and local and state governments. After review, the FCC resolved 3.7 million of those challenges, resulting in approximately 2 million locations removed and 3 million new locations added, an increase of more than 1 million sites nationwide needing access to broadband.
In West Virginia, more than 86,000 unserved parts of the state were added in the new National Broadband Map update, bringing the total unserved locations to more than 271,000.
Speaking during a virtual briefing with reporters Thursday from Capitol Hill, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said she spoke with Alan Davidson, administrator for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The agency is charged with using the National Broadband Map to determine where broadband expansion dollars from the $1.2 billion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will go.
“It’s very good news on the mapping,” said Capito, D-W.Va. “Both of us had the same feelings that the challenge process was very successful, that the maps are inordinately more accurate.”
Speaking earlier this week to reporters via a virtual conference call, Manchin said he was pleased with the updated broadband maps. Both Capito and Manchin have been vocal critics of previous FCC broadband maps.
“It’s much more accurate than even the first version released last fall, which showed that West Virginia was underserved and the maps were incorrect,” Manchin said. “I think we’re going to do extremely well with this funding.
Capito said West Virginia had one of the largest take-ups in challenges, with more than 120,000 challenges filed by state residents, leading to more successes in adding unserved areas to the map.
“The NTIA will now take those maps and – on a per capita basis of how many unserved and underserved areas will determine how many hundreds of millions of dollars the State of West Virginia will be receiving. We’ll be in much better shape than we were several months ago.”
West Virginia is expected to receive $100 million for broadband expansion through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by Congress in 2021 and negotiated by Capito and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. Manchin said NTIA funding should be determined later in June, with more than $65 billion in funding to be distributed nationwide.
“That’s going to help us immensely,” Manchin said. “There shouldn’t be a person living anywhere in West Virginia that won’t be able to access coverage. That’s how big this is. So, I am extremely happy about that, and that’s big news in itself.”