News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cumberland County officials are hopeful a push by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) improves the accuracy of broadband coverage maps.
Mayor Allen Foster said current coverage maps hinder the county’s ability to receive grants and improve broadband service to residents.
“There are some major problems with those maps,” Foster said. “The data used to create those maps is given to the FCC from the providers themselves. The data’s not verified, and there’s actually never been an enforcement action for a provider turning in data.”
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai presented the commission’s plan to improve coverage maps during a Senate hearing last Wednedsay.
Foster said the current system does not accurately represent broadband coverage across the county.
“If there’s one household in a census block [with coverage], that entire census block is considered to have service,” Foster said. “For example, there’s a dozen or so census blocks in Cumberland County. You could have 12 people with broadband service, one in each block, and it would show all of Cumberland County with broadband access. And we know that’s just not the truth.”
Cumberland County has asked citizens the last few months to complete a broadband connection survey. The purpose of the survey is to present county officials with an accurate representation of the area’s broadband coverage.
