The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today made public its issuance of Citation and Order notices to nearly a dozen broadband providers for their “Failure to File Mandatory Broadband Data.”
The Failure to File notices explained that the Broadband DATA Act requires the FCC to collect broadband service availability data twice per year — by March 1 and September 1 — from facilities-based providers of fixed or mobile broadband internet access service. The data is used for purposes such as creating and updating coverage maps, particularly the National Broadband Map. The responsibility is on providers to submit this FCC-required data twice per year.
Accurate data about where broadband is available and not available is critical now that states are readying to award BEAD funding. The FCC even designed an app to improve the accuracy of the National Broadband Map, providing crowd-sourced data to assist the FCC’s verification and policy-making processes, particularly related to the challenge process.
The FCC Failure to File notices stated that these 11 providers had “violated sections 1.7001(b) and 1.7004 of the Commission’s rules by failing on two [or three, depending on the provider] occasions to timely submit data about its service to the [Broadband Data Collection] system.”
All of the companies receiving these Failure to File letters have been delinquent in reporting since at least March 1, 2023, according to the public notices. They stated that the provider had been contacted multiple times and that “continuing failure to comply with Commission rule sections 1.7001 and 1.7004 may subject [the provider] to monetary forfeitures.”
The following companies were issued Failure to File citations:
- City Wireless; Star City, Arkansas
- Crazy Communications LLC; Lorraine, Kansas
- A.C.T.S. LLC; Moweaqua, Illinois
- Gila Broadband LLC; Concho, Arizona
- Lake Linx Inc.; Lake Isabella, California
- FiberSpark Inc.; Ithaca, New York
- Internet Service Inc.; Big Rapids, Michigan
- Telecast Communications LLC; Upton, Kentucky
- WIFAST LLC; Jacksonville, Florida
- Community Cable and Broadband LLC; Brent, Alabama
- Simple Fiber Communications LLC; Bedford, Texas
“These data gatherings and submissions in the BDC system are essential for the Commission to publish complete, precise, granular data on the availability of fixed and mobile broadband nationwide. The FCC, other federal agencies, and state and local governments use this data to carefully target funding to bring broadband services to unserved and underserved locations,” the FCC stated in the Failure to File notices.
“A broadband provider’s failure to report timely and accurate broadband availability significantly hinders the ability of federal, state, and local policymakers to target broadband deployment funds made available through various funding programs as effectively and accurately as possible.”
