Incompas, Seeking Better Broadband Maps, Slams USTelecom Forbearance

U.S. broadband coverage maps are deeply flawed and cannot be used to "burn the bridge to broadband," Incompas CEO Chip Pickering blogged. The FCC uses broadband maps to help inform deployment and competition policy, he said, but its reliance on Census block data "has created an inaccurate fairy tale of broadband availability." Pickering argued Thursday "the FCC must immediately reject any proposals based on the current broadband maps' flawed data," starting with a USTelecom petition for forbearance from requirements that ILECs sell transport network services to competitive LECs as an unbundled network element (UNE). Incompas says competition in the business-to-business market would be especially threatened in rural markets without facilities-based competition (see 1905140012). A USTelecom spokesperson said that the 1996 unbundling rules are obsolete, noting the group and members "are leading the charge to help improve the FCC's Form 477 broadband data collection process, particularly for rural areas where current data can be upgraded." The telco group said in a recent filing that Form 477 census block data "is more than adequate for assessing the presence and feasibility of competition for last-mile facilities without reliance on UNEs" (see 1905220066). USTelecom said it has proposed limiting forbearance relief to census blocks that are less than a square mile on average, "where the so-called 'bridge to broadband' has already been built by facilities-based providers and/or our cable competitors."