As the January 13 deadline looms for states to challenge the current FCC coverage maps, many states are asking for more time. I'm starting to wonder, however, whether more time is actually all that important. The specific FCC rules and timelines -- as well as what NTIA has said about how the FCC maps will (and won't) be used for BEAD -- suggest that the current frenzy to challenge the November 18 FCC maps may be both futile and irrelevant when it comes to BEAD. Anyway, this is a less quantitative post than you may be used to seeing in this space, but there still a lot to unpack so here goes.
Mar 17, 2023·edited Mar 17, 2023Liked by Mike Conlow
Ran some rough estimates and it looks like the V2 fabric added quite a few points in urban areas and removed a smaller amount from rural areas. In our area ~8k unserved points were removed and ~40 k served points were removed from V1 of the fabric. If coverages remained the same (this is way more fuzzy math) ~6.5 k unserved locations were added and ~55 k served locations were added in V2.
Long story short, it seems the fabric's algorithm had a far larger impact than challenges for most states. Alaska, West Virginia, and South Carolina may be exceptions to that rule as they seem to have been rather successful at locating rural fabric points but who knows if the algorithm would have found those anyway? Also, who knows if eyeballing "rural" actually translates to unserved in different areas of the county, it's super interesting how diverse the landscape/way folks distribute themselves in different areas of the country. Interesting stuff nonetheless!
Ran some rough estimates and it looks like the V2 fabric added quite a few points in urban areas and removed a smaller amount from rural areas. In our area ~8k unserved points were removed and ~40 k served points were removed from V1 of the fabric. If coverages remained the same (this is way more fuzzy math) ~6.5 k unserved locations were added and ~55 k served locations were added in V2.
Long story short, it seems the fabric's algorithm had a far larger impact than challenges for most states. Alaska, West Virginia, and South Carolina may be exceptions to that rule as they seem to have been rather successful at locating rural fabric points but who knows if the algorithm would have found those anyway? Also, who knows if eyeballing "rural" actually translates to unserved in different areas of the county, it's super interesting how diverse the landscape/way folks distribute themselves in different areas of the country. Interesting stuff nonetheless!
Agree that a challenge process of warranted and critical, but that much of this will end up being a waste of consulting fees (and time).