Closing the digital divide one anchor institution at a time.
FCC Excludes Schools, Libraries, Healthcare Providers from New Broadband Maps January 19, 2021
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Alicja Johnson
Communications Manager
202-263-4626
Washington, D.C. (January 19, 2021) - Today the Federal Communications Commission released newly-adopted rules for collecting broadband availability data. The new maps will not include information about community anchor institution connectivity.
John Windhausen Jr., executive director of the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition made the following statement:
“While the SHLB Coalition firmly supports the need to improve our nation’s flawed broadband maps, we are disheartened by the FCC’s decision to exclude schools, healthcare providers, and other anchor institutions from this mapping effort. Further concerning is that the FCC failed to provide a logical reason for doing so. By adopting a convoluted regime based on ‘mass market’ and ‘non-mass market’ services, the Commission has lost sight of the bigger picture imperative to map the full scope of broadband availability across the U.S. The National Broadband Plan called for all anchor institutions to have gigabit broadband capacity by the year 2020. But how can we understand our progress toward that goal without maps that show us which anchors are in need?”
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About SHLB:
The SHLB Coalition is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) advocacy organization that supports open, affordable, high-quality broadband connections for anchor institutions and their surrounding communities. The SHLB Coalition is based in Washington, D.C. and has a diverse membership of commercial and non-commercial organizations from across the United States. To learn more, visit www.shlb.org.