U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Calls on FCC to Improve Broadband Coverage Maps

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin joined a bipartisan group of her Senate colleagues in urging Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to create a public feedback mechanism that would allow consumers and states to help inform broadband coverage maps and report any lack of broadband access to the FCC.

The Senators write, “While we are glad the FCC is trying to address some of the issues with their mapping through the ongoing Form 477 proceeding, this alone will not solve everything. As long as we continue to rely solely on carrier-reported Form 477 data, we will never have a complete picture that accurately depicts the real world experiences of Americans.”

They continue, “We are not suggesting that crowdsourced data is perfect and that it alone will be enough to fix the greater challenges with broadband mapping, but it is an important tool we should have in the toolbox. We believe the creation of a public feedback mechanism is feasible and would be a critical first step toward creating more reliable and accurate broadband maps.”

The full letter is available here.

The letter was led by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and James Lankford (R-OK). It was also signed by Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Doug Jones (D-AL), John Kennedy (R-LA), Angus King (I-ME) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).