Sacred Wind Communications Worried About Tribal Lands Broadband Mapping
FCC use of census block and Form 477 data designating which households are served "misses many unserved tribal homes in its calculation of broadband support needed," said Sacred Wind Communications, posted Wednesday in docket 10-90. "A major part of the…
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undercounting of tribal homes is the failure to recognize certain structures as domiciles, inhabitable by Western standards." Tuesday, a participant in a USTelecom location fabric broadband mapping pilot recommended the FCC better define serviceable locations for broadband mapping (see 1908200055). Sacred Wind identified all structures within a service area eligible for alternative Connect America cost model (A-CAM) support "and found that the FCC undercounted the locations in those census blocks by over 4,000 locations." It said undercounting those homes would have meant "a loss of nearly $4 million annually in funding needed to provide broadband to those locations" if Sacred Wind had accepted A-CAM support: Undercounted households are rendered "invisible to the Commission for purposes of bridging the digital divide in rural and Tribal areas." Comments on broadband mapping are due to FCC Sept. 23 (see 1908210008).