Bulk challenges to the FCC's broadband fabric

At this point, those who are closely following the rollout of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act know that the Federal Communications Commission is creating a broadband map called the “broadband service location fabric.” 

Those following the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act know that the fabric will be used to apportion funding under the IIJA’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program. That various governments, ISPs, and other stakeholders can submit challenges to the fabric’s data is also part of the discussion.

Yet we also know the fabric is full of errors. While some are more bullish on its long-term accuracy than others, everyone – including the FCC – agree that the challenge process will be crucial going forward.

What is unclear, however, is exactly how the challenge process works. The FCC has posted information pages and hosted webinars, but many stakeholders still struggle to understand exactly how they are expected to submit their data for review.

The FCC has been clear that following the challenge rules with exactness is essential. To demystify the seven types of bulk challenges, Broadband.Money assembled a help page that contains challenge-category explanations and provides additional context.