Watch Senator Rosen’s Remarks Here.
WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, during a hearing of the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband, Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) raised the alarm about the discrepancies in recent broadband maps released by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which overstate existing broadband coverage areas. She called on the FCC to fix this issue since broadband funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is directly tied to these maps, and falsely overstating broadband coverage can negatively impact how much broadband infrastructure funding is allocated to rural Nevada.
“I’m so severely disappointed by the recent broadband maps released by the FCC, which vastly overstate current coverage in rural Nevada,” said Senator Rosen. “Broadband funding is directly tied to these maps, so we need to get this process right. That means [Internet Service Providers] must be forthcoming about where they actually serve. But it also means that the FCC challenge process must accept challenges based on actual engineering and the facts on the ground, not merely whether an [Internet Service Providers] can theoretically serve a particular community — actual facts, not theoretical.”
Senator Rosen is one of the authors of the broadband section of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including the Middle Mile Broadband Deployment Act which enables broadband infrastructure to connect internet carriers to local networks and community institutions. She has joined bipartisan efforts pushing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take action to increase broadband speed requirements, particularly in rural and underserved areas in the United States. In advocating for broadband access for all Nevadans, Senator Rosen has hosted roundtable discussions with community leaders focused on the need to expand and improve broadband in Nevada.
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