Critics Doubt FCC's Broadband Data

The FCC is being scrutinized over its claims that its deregulatory agenda has led to record gains in the private sector’s efforts to expand access to high-speed internet in rural and underserved communities, The Hill is reporting.

Internet players, watchdogs and lawmakers are calling for changes to how the agency collects data on broadband access and makes policy.

In February, Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft of the agency’s annual progress report on broadband deployment. He touted data showing that the number of Americans without access to broadband fell by more than 25 percent and that a record number of homes had received new fiber connections in 2017.

The release said the report found the private sector has been deploying broadband on a “reasonable and timely basis” and attributed the progress to Pai’s efforts to roll back regulations on the industry.

“This report shows that our approach is working,” Pai said in a statement when the draft was circulated. “But we won’t rest until all Americans can have access to broadband and the 21st century opportunities it provides to communities everywhere.”

The FCC’s broadband mapping data is a crucial measure, used to determine where federal dollars can be best spent to improve access. But Pai also used the positive numbers as evidence that the private sector was boosted by his deregulatory efforts, which included the repeal of the Obama-era net neutrality rules that passed at the end of 2017 and went into effect last year.

Pai’s conclusions and the numbers that he based them on quickly came under scrutiny.

“This is just not credible. Studies show that 162 million Americans do not use the internet at broadband speeds,” Democratic FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement to The Hill.

“The simple fact is that the FCC needs to come clean about its numbers — serious questions have been raised about the FCC’s data that demand answers.”

In a filing to the FCC last week, Microsoft said it found that the “broadband availability data ... appears to overstate the extent to which broadband is actually available throughout the nation.