Even when the FCC does something right, it seems to trip over itself. This week’s topic is a prime example. On December 4, 2019 Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the Commission intends to establish a 5G Fund, which would make up to $9 billion in Universal Service Fund (USF) support available to carriers to deploy advanced 5G mobile wireless services in rural parts of the country. This money would be “allocated through a reverse auction and would target hard-to-serve areas with sparse populations and/or rugged terrain.” With carriers building 5G networks and rural companies facing restrictions on using relatively cheap Chinese parts, this would seem to be a timely proposal.

However, in creating this new Fund, the Commission canceled its ongoing 4G Fund due to the error-filled broadband maps provided by broadband providers that were used to allocate USF dollars in that Fund, without penalizing the companies that produced the maps. Many observers are furious that Pai is letting these large ISPs of the hook.

As noted above, the 5G Fund is timely and makes sense, since everyone knows that many rural areas lack broadband connectivity. Chairman Pai describes the new Fund:

5G has the potential to bring many benefits to American consumers and businesses, including wireless networks that are more responsive, more secure, and up to 100 times faster than today’s 4G LTE networks. We want to make sure that rural Americans enjoy these benefits, just as residents of large urban areas will. In order to do that, the Universal Service Fund must be forward-looking and support the networks of tomorrow. Moreover, America’s farms and ranches have unique wireless connectivity needs, as I’ve seen across the country. That’s why I will move forward as quickly as possible to establish a 5G Fund that would bring next-generation 5G services to rural areas and would reserve some of that funding for 5G networks that promote precision agriculture. We must ensure that 5G narrows rather than widens the digital divide and that rural Americans receive the benefits that come from wireless innovation. (FCC December 4, 2019, News Release).

Here is what angers FCC critics: In its “Mobility Fund Phase II Coverage Maps Investigation Staff Report” in Docket 19-367, also released on December 4, 2019, the agency tested the broadband maps provided by ISPs for the 4G Fund and found the following:

The Commission dispatched its Enforcement Bureau field agents to conduct speed tests of the Verizon, U.S. Cellular, and T-Mobile wireless networks. Commission field agents measured on-the-ground network performance in 12 states across six drive test routes, conducting a total of 24,649 tests and driving nearly 10,000 miles in the course of this testing. Field agents also conducted 5,916 stationary speed tests at 42 distinct locations in nine states.
Through the investigation, staff discovered that the [Mobility Fund] MF-II coverage maps submitted by Verizon, U.S. Cellular, and T-Mobile likely overstated each provider’s actual coverage and did not reflect on-the-ground performance in many instances. Only 62.3% of staff drive tests achieved at least the minimum download speed predicted by the coverage maps—with U.S. Cellular achieving that speed in only 45.0% of such tests, T-Mobile in 63.2% of tests, and Verizon in 64.3% of tests. Similarly, staff stationary tests showed that each provider achieved sufficient download speeds meeting the minimum cell edge probability in fewer than half of all test locations (20 of 42 locations). In addition, staff was unable to obtain any 4G LTE signal for 38% of drive tests on U.S. Cellular’s network, 21.3% of drive tests on T-Mobile’s network, and 16.2% of drive tests on Verizon’s network, despite each provider reporting coverage in the relevant area.

The Bureau concluded that the ISPs should be significantly penalized for this erroneous data:

[T]he Commission should release an Enforcement Advisory on broadband deployment data submissions, including a detailing of the penalties associated with filings that violate federal law, both for the continuing FCC Form 477 filings and the new Digital Opportunity Data Collection. Overstating mobile broadband coverage misleads the public and can misallocate our limited universal service funds, and thus it must be met with meaningful consequences. (Mobility Report, at para. 7).

Despite this recommendation, the FCC will not move to penalize the carriers. It claimed lamely that the staff investigation did not find a sufficiently clear rule violation that would warrant action! This is utter nonsense and clearly a case of self-preservation.

The Commission has known for years that the broadband maps required under Form 477 widely overstated broadband deployment. Even the providers themselves noted that the maps were likely inaccurate. Its failure to make any attempts until recently to improve the maps is an indictment of itself. Better to bury the findings now rather than admit its failures.

I have defended this Commission many times when its policies were unfairly attacked but it is simply unacceptable to end the 4G Fund without acknowledging its own actions or inactions that led to the rural broadband crisis today. It is equally unacceptable for broadband providers to “skate” for the junk data they provided to the Commission. There simply are no good guys here, and the real losers are rural Americans!