Four States Added to NTIA's National Broadband Availability Map in July, Bringing Total to 22

NTIA announced on July 23 that two more states, Indiana and Georgia, are participating in the National Broadband Availability Map (NBAM). Along with Wyoming and Washington State, two additions disclosed earlier that month, a total of 22 states are now involved.

Not to be confused with the original National Broadband Map that was decommissioned several years ago, or the FCC's current, but frequently criticized, Fixed Broadband Deployment Map, the NBAM was authorized by Congress in 2018. It utilizes geographic information system (GIS) technology, as well as multiple public (including FCC Form 477) and non-public data sets, to visualize for state and federal policymakers ("partners") those specific areas that currently are unserved. Because the NBAM incorporates proprietary information, it is not available to the general public.

In a July 29 Perspectives from FSF Scholars, "Legislative 'Best Practices' to Expand and Accelerate Broadband Coverage," I discussed, among other topics, the importance of accurate coverage maps for federal subsidy programs targeting unserved areas; efforts by the FCC (the Digital Opportunity Data Collection (DODC)) and Congress (the Broadband DATA Act) to produce modernized, publicly available maps; and the pressing need for funding to make those maps a reality.