[Update] Adding Unserved Locations with the Latest FCC Broadband Map Data

It’s a two email kind of day. I finished updating the number of Served, Underserved, and Unserved based on the version of the map the FCC released this morning, with updates and corrections as of June 15th. Those numbers are available in this tab of the spreadsheet.

NTIA appears to have done the $4.2 billion (10%) high-cost allocation along the lines I guessed in a previous post. That is, following the statute, they allocated the high-cost funding based on high-cost locations in 80%+ Unserved areas, of which their aren’t many. While I don’t think it’s fair to high-cost states like Nebraska, Iowa and the Dakotas, it’s hard to blame NTIA for this outcome: the law clearly directed them on how to allocate the funding.

Another small follow-up about Michigan: Whereas previously the two wireless providers responsible for almost tanking Michigan’s allocation filed coverage over 575,420 locations, in the latest update to the map, they’re down to 253,775 locations. As a results, Michigan’s Unserved locations are up from 315,620 to 366,910 — a difference of 52,768 and an increase in allocation of $141 million from the estimates.