New Broadband Availability Data Reporting Begins June 30, 2022

Facilities-based providers of fixed and mobile broadband Internet access service must submit broadband availability data under the new broadband data collection (BDC) rules between June 30, 2022 and September 1, 2022, for deployment as of June 30, 2022. Updates on BDC filing specifications, including the URL for the BDC system website, will be posted on the FCC’s BDC webpage as the filing date approaches. Filing specifications can be found here.

Facilities-based providers of fixed and wireless mobile broadband that have at least one customer on June 30, 2022 are required to submit polygon shapefiles, propagation maps and propagation model details, or a list of locations that constitute the service area of the provider. Fixed broadband providers must include either propagation maps and propagation model details or a list of locations that constitute the service area of the provider. Propagation model details include base station information (frequency band(s), carrier aggregation, radio technologies, elevation above ground, geographic coordinates), height and power values used for CPE modeling, terrain and clutter information including name and vintage of dataset, resolution, list of clutter categories and description of link budget, and parameters including predicted signal strength. Engineering data must be certified as accurate by a professional engineer, although the engineer can be an employee of the reporting entity.

Providers of both broadband and voice services (local telephone service providers, facilities-based providers of mobile telephony service, or providers of interconnected VoIP service) also must file Form 477 fixed and/or mobile voice subscription data in the BDC system.

Filers will submit data either in the BDC system via file upload and/or web form or using an Application Programming Interface (API). A system user guide, instructions on how to use the optional API, and other technical assistance resources to assist filers will be provided at a later date.

Until the FCC announces a sunset date for the submission of Form 477 broadband deployment data, fixed and mobile broadband service providers that have traditionally filed FCC Form 477 are required to file data in both the new BDC system and the existing Form 477 filing interface.

Please contact an attorney in our Broadband, Spectrum, and Communications Infrastructure practice group if you have questions about the reporting requirements.