House Communications' Doyle Sees Broadband Mapping Bill as Primary September Focus

House Communications Subcommittee leaders appear to be eyeing ways to combine language from at least five bills on improving the federal government's collection of broadband coverage data, before a planned Wednesday hearing on the subject, communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. The lawmakers are aiming to make progress on broadband mapping legislation, an issue that drew bipartisan interest. That's amid slower progress on other House Commerce Committee communications policy priorities to clear spectrum in the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band for 5G and Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization (see 1908050037 and 1908230049).

House Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., didn't tip his hand. “The intent is to get accurate mapping … because we know we don't have it right now,” he told reporters. “It doesn't make a lot of sense for us to be able to proceed if we don't have an accurate view of who has service and who doesn't.”

Legislators appear likely to pursue a package anchored by the House version of the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Data) Act (HR-4229), one of the five bills House Communications is examining during the Wednesday hearing, lobbyists said. A markup is expected soon. HR-4229 and Senate version S-1822 would require the FCC to collect more “granular” broadband coverage data and create a “user-friendly challenge process” (see 1909060061). The Senate Commerce Committee cleared an amended version of S-1822 in July (see 1907240061).

House Communications is also examining the Broadband Mapping After Public Scrutiny (Maps) Act (HR-2643), Broadband Data Improvement Act (HR-3162), Map Improvement Act (HR-4128) and Mapping Accuracy Promotes Services Act (HR-4227), House Commerce said in a memo. HR-2643 would require the FCC begin a rulemaking process within six months of enactment to establish a challenge process to verify broadband coverage data (see 1905100066). HR-3162 and Senate companion S-1522 would direct federal funds to build out broadband infrastructure and require broadband providers to report more accurate data on the locations they serve to help improve the national broadband map (see 1905160087). HR-4128 and Senate companion S-1485 would in part designate the FCC as the lead broadband mapping agency and establish the Office of Broadband Data Collection and Mapping within the agency. HR-4227 would explicitly outlaw knowingly providing inaccurate coverage data to the FCC.

Prioritizing Bipartisanship

House Communications is pursuing broadband mapping legislation as its first priority after the month-plus August recess because it's the issue on which colleagues have the best chance of reaching bipartisan consensus in the near future, Doyle said. “Anytime we have a chance of moving legislation in the House and the Senate, we're looking to do that,” he said. “We want to put something forward that can pass” in both chambers: “We've gone long enough without doing stuff.”

Doyle said some House Communications members are interested in helping rural carriers that already have equipment from Chinese equipment makers Huawei and ZTE integrated into their networks, but he wouldn't detail what proposals are advancing. House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., has been pursuing draft legislation to encourage rural carriers to remove Chinese equipment (see 1907220053). “I have an open mind” about such proposals, which have support from members in rural districts concerned about carriers “stuck” with Chinese equipment amid worries those components pose a threat to U.S. telecom infrastructure, Doyle said.

House Communications remains interested in C-band legislation and the STELA debate, but work on both issues is likely to extend well beyond the September work period, Doyle said. “We'll see what has some momentum and go from there.” Doyle favors STELA renewal, though some other lawmakers prefer letting the law sunset at the end of 2019. “We're just sitting down right now” to figure out “where we see [STELA] falling” in the order of priorities, but “it's not the next thing on the agenda,” he said.

Doyle cautioned Commerce “doesn't necessarily need” another STELA-related hearing to decide on renewing the statute, but he isn't ruling it out. House Communications examined STELA issues in June (see 1906040057). Communications lobbyists had expected a STELA-focused Communications hearing in September, but the broadband mapping legislative work likely bumped that from the agenda for now.

Reaching a C-band compromise with Republicans is “complicated” and “we're keeping an eye” on what the FCC is planning to recommend given an earlier Communications Daily report that Chairman Ajit Pai appears to be aiming for a plan to clear at least 300 MHz (see 1908200044) via a public auction, Doyle said. He has been working with House Communications Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif., on legislation to marry elements of his own draft C-band bill with her Wireless Investment Now in (Win) 5G Act (HR-4171). Both contemplate a public auction (see 1907150020).

“We want to get something done” on C-band legislation but “if we want to pull something out of the House, we've got to make sure that we're looking at the Senate, too,” Doyle said. He indicated his office has been engaged in staff-level discussions with Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La. Kennedy has been considering attaching a pro-public C-band auction rider to the subcommittee’s FY 2020 budget bill, which would include annual funding for the FCC.

Witnesses' Endorsements

Several witnesses set to testify at the Wednesday hearing endorsed all or part of HR-4229 in written testimony, including NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield and USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter.

The bill “could give the FCC clearer direction on where to head next and support for the efforts already underway” to fix the broadband maps, Bloomfield said. “We applaud the careful attention paid in the legislation to immediate granularity improvements in the form of shapefiles, the clear message sent with respect to the need to move toward a more granular location fabric in the future, and the explicit call for standards development and processes to improve data collection.”

HR-4229 and HR-4227 together “would wisely combine multiple datasets to produce a granular-level fabric of data that can be used to pinpoint the location of the unserved,” Spalter said. They "give clear and concise direction to the FCC” and would ensure “this data is available not only for government agencies and providers to make informed decisions.”

HR-4229 “would standardize the mapping process and result in an output that is usable by the FCC and other federal agencies, as well as by states looking to improve the targeting of their broadband program funds,” said U.S. Cellular Vice President-Federal Affairs and Public Policy Grant Spellmeyer. “There must be an urgency to get ... to a world where our federal government can confidently point to a map that, with reasonably accuracy, tells the public where broadband is" and isn't.

Free Press supports HR-4229's “call for reporting additional 'quality of service' metrics, and consider the current definition in that bill the minimum in terms of what would suffice in this regard,” said Policy Manager Dana Floberg. “Congress and the Commission also need better data on broadband pricing, performance, and competition if they are truly intent on connecting people and bridging the entire digital divide.”

NCTA believes HR-4229 “appropriately recognizes that the FCC, with its contractor, should be responsible for creating and maintaining this dataset as opposed to providers,” said Executive Vice President James Assey. “Any attempt to create a location-by-location map, however, should have to take into account not only the overwhelming initial burden to create and compile such data, but also the constant updating that would be required to take into account” new houses and those destroyed in disasters.