PRESS RELEASE 
April 10, 2019

Accurate Data Critical to Bridging Rural Broadband Gap

Connect Americans Now (CAN) Executive Director Richard T. Cullen released the following statement in response to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation’s hearing entitled “Broadband Mapping: Challenges and Solutions,” which focused on examining ways to improve the nation’s broadband maps:

“There is now bipartisan agreement that the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) broadband maps significantly overstate access across the country, forcing many rural communities to remain in the digital dark when they are overlooked for deployment efforts. We applaud Chairman Roger Wicker, Ranking Member Maria Cantwell and all of the members of the committee who are bringing attention to this important issue.

“Moving forward, we encourage the FCC to remove the ‘could’ question from Form 477 and instead use both availability and actual usage data to guide investments before releasing a new report on broadband mapping.”