New FCC broadband map faulted by telehealth advocates; it's easier to challenge, but the deadline is Jan. 13

The Federal Communications Commission's new maps of high-speed internet service in the U.S. may be "a step in the right direction" but it leaves much to be desired, telehealth advocates say.

They told senators Thursday that the maps. which will guide Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding for internet expansion, "need to be significantly revamped -- as some communities are entirely missing from the maps -- to ensure the unserved and underserved are accurately represented," Cara Smith reports for Inside Telehealth. They want the FCC to extend the Jan. 13 deadline for comments.

"A government official told Inside TeleHealth that navigating the FCC maps also were confusing, so individual community members may have significant challenges navigating the data," Smith reports. "Even if the maps are corrected in time, lawmakers and stakeholders still worry about instances of fraud, waste and abuse from contractors receiving funding to construct broadband in unserved or underserved areas."

Smith notes that the Government Accountability Office, the bipartisan auditing arm of Congress, has "called for the White House to synchronize the over 100 federal programs that aim to expand broadband access to rural areas and other locations with limited or no access to internet, and to ask for congressional help if necessary. Without a national plan, GAO said, the federal government could miss the chance to expand internet access and increase access to essential services, like telehealth."

The new map is still based on reports from telecommunications companies, but at a more granular level, Robert Gallardo, director at the Purdue Center for Regional Development, told Kristi Easton of The Daily Yonder. "That’s the same glitch that we had before, which is providers reporting on their own,” he added. “Now you can go in and challenge that availability, but it does require a little bit of prep time, meaning you can see the options you have to challenge the availability piece.”

To challenge the map, "One has to include either a bill from the provider or include a screenshot from the website that shows the package is not available for that address," Eaton reports. "The worry, according to Gallardo, is that challenging the map takes some technology know-how that not everyone may have. And the deadline to challenge for this map is Jan. 13."