AT&T and T-Mobile are opposed to a Federal Communications Commission program that would allow America's wireless carriers to test their own networks to check coverage. The air carrier contributions discovered by Ars Technica on Thursday came in response to a request by the FCC to comment in July on their proposals to review air carriers' speed and coverage claims.
"We propose to require mobile operators to submit test data on site," said the FCC's July 2020 proposal and we believe that on-site test data from cellular providers could be a critical part of our verification process ""
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AT & T's filing, filed on Tuesday this week, argues that it is impossible "for all carriers to use the same parameters and create maps that accurately predict their individual network performance". AT&T also spoke out against the costs imposed on operators by having to conduct annual driving tests nationwide to validate their cards for mobile broadband coverage.
"AT&T estimates that testing just 25% of the square kilometers of its statewide 4G LTE coverage would cost approximately $ 45 million each year, and that testing just 10% of the coverage would still cost up to $ 18 million would cost a year, "Filing said. This is "just too costly", especially if network operators focus on a 5G rollout, said AT&T.
Similarly, the T-Mobile submission published on Monday described drive tests as "extremely expensive and burdensome".
"A blanket requirement to conduct regular on-site testing will force vendors to spend millions of dollars each year on testing, resources that should be better spent investing in our network and deploying in rural America," said T-Mobile.
The FCC said earlier this year 21 million Americans didn't have access to broadband - but that number could be higher in rural areas where coverage maps aren't as accurate. The FCC's cards are used to decide who will receive a portion of the $ 4 billion for broadband coverage each year to help bridge the digital divide.
As a result, in March the US passed a new version of a Bill to improve the accuracy of broadband coverage maps. The Broadband Accuracy and Technological Availability Act (DATA) requires the FCC to collect more detailed information on where coverage is being provided and "put in place a process to verify the accuracy of this data and more."
The problem with the cards
The FCC's maps are designed to educate policymakers about where broadband is available and where not, so they can figure out who is receiving the $ 4 billion in federal grants that will help bridge the digital divide. However, the current system for collecting the data to create these maps has significant problems. The FCC uses data that ISPs report in Form 477 twice a year to create their coverage maps.
Cellular operators are expected to report this information themselves. But it's not always accurate.
Earlier this year, a fixed network operator mistakenly overstated its coverage, which skewed the FCC's draft report on broadband delivery.
Last year the FCC also called Verizon, T-Mobile and US Cellular in a report about overrating their wireless coverage. With so many problems with the map data, the FCC revamped a $ 4.5 billion subsidy program to bring 4G LTE to rural communities.
The airlines claim to have only reported the data requested by the FCC.
The DATA Act is designed to help resolve another issue with the data collected by the FCC. In the past, broadband coverage data collected by the FCC was not detailed enough. The way it worked is for broadband providers to report coverage using census blocks, the smallest geographic area used by the US Census Bureau. If the service is available in part of a census block, the entire block is assumed to have broadband.
But in rural parts of the country, a single house might have internet service, but it might be the only house for miles with access. The DATA LAW requires more detailed reporting.
Fixing the FCC's cards was a bipartisan effort. Republicans and Democrats in Congress have criticized the FCC for not having better cards. And congressional leaders in both parties have urged the FCC to take steps to improve data quality.
