FCC Releases Latest Version of National Broadband Map

The FCC's second version of a national broadband map has been released, and it adds approximately 330,000 more unserved locations to the previous map released last November. While that seems like a lot of locations, it represents just 0.2% increase over the last map. Overall, and additional 1 million "serviceable locations" were identified by the FCC.

A screenshot of the latest version of the FCC's broadband map, filtered for access to fixed broadband at 100/20 Mbps

Getting the national broadband map as close to reality as possible has been a big concern in the broadband industry, as the map will provide the basis for future funding. The NTIA will use the map to deploy funds from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program (BEAD) where states will get funding in proportion to the number of unserved and high-cost locations on the map. 

In a blog post, the NTIA says the new FCC map will allow them to remain on track to announce BEAD allocations his summer.

NTIA is confident that with this data as a baseline, we will be able to effectively allocate funds by the end of June. We will continue to monitor the FCC’s updates to availability data to ensure that we make a well-informed allocation of these vital funds. ​