On September 15, 2022, the FCC released a Public Notice announcing the availability of the Data Specifications for Bulk Fixed Challenge and Crowdsource Data, which provides guidance on filing bulk challenges and bulk crowdsource information to the fixed broadband availability data that will be published on the FCC’s Broadband Maps as part of the Broadband Data Collection (BDC). Both the bulk fixed availability challenge and crowdsource processes will open after the FCC’s Broadband Maps are published and released, which is expected to occur in November 2022.
The specifications for submissions of bulk challenge data and for crowdsource data are available in the above link, and differ in some respects. For bulk challenges, the required data varies based on the methodology used by the challenger to generate its data. However, in all cases, the data must include: (1) the challenger’s name and contact information; (2) the location of the dispute based on the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric, (3) the category of the challenge, and (4) information supporting the challenge. Crowdsource data on the other hand is not limited to availability information and filers of such data may therefore provide information on the locations where the data indicates that the actual speed of the fixed broadband service does not match its advertised speed. Further, information supporting the circumstances claimed in crowdsource data is optional, unlike in bulk challenge filings.
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